Here Be Pirates
by AshGopal
Summary: Sage Potter was a strange child and she knew it. So when she ends up with an Uncle just as strange and in a world even stranger, she knows, this is her place to shine. She's determined, one way or another, to make history remember her. Formerly 'Be Not Afraid of Greatness' Fem!Harry, Uncle!Shanks
1. Prologue

**Hello there! Welcome to my new story! This is gonna be a One Piece and Harry Potter Crossover, so get ready for two worlds of craziness!**

 **Oh, and this is just the prologue, so we'll be seeing the main story start next chapter.**

 **So, onwards!**

* * *

 _ **Prologue**_

Petunia Evans loved her family, even if they were a little peculiar. Daisy and Peter Evans were splendid, loving parents. They were also a bit… odd, searching for 'fun' in places where one wouldn't normally look.

She adored her younger siblings, Lily and Linden. Both her younger brother and sister were twins, but fought almost incessantly. But under all that bickering, they loved each other irrevocably, having a bond with each other that made Petunia jealous, at times.

So, along with her not-so-normal family, Petunia enjoyed the odd adventurous escapade. She was an Evans, after all.

That was, until her parents wanted to go to Kenya for a vacation.

Petunia tried begging them to reconsider, telling them about how they had talked about all of the dangerous operations going on in that region of the world in her General Knowledge class. However, the adventurous Evans spirit was not to be deterred. They were on the flight the very next morning.

At first, it was all very normal. Well, as 'normal' as a vacation for the Evans could get. They visited all of the tourist locations, ate authentic Kenyan food and stayed in nice Hotels.

It was the fifth day of their trip when disaster struck.

Petunia was sitting in the sun reading her latest romantic storybook, while her Mum and Dad were inside, drinking wine with another young, Australian couple they had encountered. Lily and Linden were playing outside on the rough dirt road outside the Hotel.

It didn't take very long for Petunia to become immersed in her story. After all, the male lead was especially charming in this installment. She lost track of time as she flipped through the pages.

Finally, it was her Mum's voice to rouse her from her tale. "Petunia, darling, would you be a dear and fetch the twins for me? It's getting late and I want them to eat their dinner, otherwise they'll be hyper all night."

Petunia giggled as she recalled the last time the twins had eaten late and she closed her book and rose, looking for her younger siblings.

However, the laugh died on her lips when she was unable to catch even a glimpse of their bright red hair. She frowned and called out, "Mum, I don't see them. Are you sure they didn't come inside?"

"Yes, I'm certain. They must have run off while they were playing, the little rascals."

Petunia stepped out from the patio and looked both ways down the road. Although there were many other people, it showed to be completely absent of any small, red-headed children.

Petunia finally felt the first vestiges of panic bloom in her stomach. "Mummy! I really don't see them!"

Finally, hearing the alarm in their eldest daughter's voice, the Evans couple walked out the door at last.

It soon became very clear that the twins were indeed missing. The Evans called for the British embassy as urgently as they could, but all the while, Petunia had a heavy feeling of dread.

The awful feeling persisted throughout the entire night, from when the officers arrived to talk to her parents to when they went out to search for her missing younger siblings.

It was at that moment, when the officials returned with only a sobbing Lily and no trace of her younger brother that Petunia swore to always be 'normal'. After all, if the Evans family had been normal in the first place, then Linden would have still been alive and safe with them.

* * *

Linden had no idea how he had gotten into this situation. All he knew was that one minute he and Lily were playing, and the next these weird men had scooped them up and had placed nasty smelling rags to their noses. After that, it went black.

Now, as he slowly dragged himself from his groggy sleep, he noticed all the things around him.

See, he was what Petunia had told him was Street Smart. He wasn't good at all the things at school, no, that was for Lily. Petunia told them that she was Book Smart instead.

But Linden just couldn't concentrate inside a room with books in front of him. He needed to go out and see things. He just _knew_ what to do in certain situations, just like how Lily sometimes just _knew_ all the answers on their tests.

And right at this moment, Linden _knew_ that they were in trouble. Deep trouble.

Lily was leaning against his shoulder, still passed out. They were in a tiny room that stank to the high heavens. Linden could make out a small corner filled with bile and excrement.

He grimaced darkly. Not good. If the room smelled like this, that meant that whoever was previously in here was confined for days, not even being let out for the restroom.

This was _very bad_.

As silently as he could, he shifted an arm and wrapped it around Lily's mouth. With the other, he began roughly shaking her awake.

"Oi, Lily, wake up!" He growled softly.

Lily's eyes shot open and she began to struggle, but Linden leaned into her looked her in the eyes. "It's ok. It's me. You need to be quiet"

Slowly, her struggles ceased and her muffled screams subsided. When she was completely stationary, he finally removed his hand from her mouth.

Before he could say anything, Lily scowled at him and hissed, "What was that all about? Why we-"

Linden lunged forward and slapped his hand over her mouth, cutting her off ruthlessly. He held both of them very still as he listened for voices outside the door. He could hear some Swahili being lowly spoken as two men walked outside their door. He held his breath as the voices grew closer, but relaxed when the men didn't stop and continued on their way.

He turned back to his now slightly-frightened sister and seriously looked her in the eye. "Lily. Listen to me. We're in trouble. And not the 'kidnap Mr. Felix's dog and paint him blue' trouble, the ' _danger'_ kind of trouble." He broke eye contact with her to do another brief once-over of the room. "As far as I can tell, we've been kidnapped."

Lily's eyes widened and she let out a muffled squeal behind his hand, but quickly stopped when he glared at her. "Remember what 'Tunie said about the dangers in this part of the world? Including Human Trafficking?"

At her look, he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know that we didn't believe her then, but look at the situation here. We've been kidnapped." He scowled thunderously. "There's two ways this is gonna go, Lily-flower. Either they're going to sell us, or they're going to keep us hostage. I think that they assumed that we're rich because of our skin color. Whichever it is, we're in big trouble."

Linden slowly removed his hand from his sister's mouth and grimly took in her stunned and terrified expression. Finally, she looked at him with watery green eyes. "B-But why, Lindy? We're not rich. Why did they take us?"

Linden grimaced. "They don't care about that, Lily-flower. They just want their money, whether Mum and Dad have got it or not."

Lily sniffed and a few tears slipped down her face. "B-But do you think that if we told them, th-they'd let us go…?"

Linden sighed in exasperation and pulled her into a tight hug as she began gasping in quiet sobs. He closed his eyes in pain. "Silly Lily-flower. You know that's not how it works."

The two red-headed twins sat in silence with only the occasional sob breaking it. Finally, Lily raised her head, and her red-rimmed eyes met her brother's serious gray ones. "S-So now what do we do?"

Linden stood and pulled Lily up beside him. He looked her in the eye and resolutely declared, "We escape."

* * *

It went well in the beginning.

Almost _too_ well.

The door was locked. No matter how they jiggled or tried to manipulate the knob, the twins weren't able to unlock the door.

In the end, Linden just yanked the knob straight off. Lily gave him the most deadpan expression he had ever seen, but hey? What else could he do?

The duo silently crept out of the room and into the hallway, cautiously creeping beside the wall, hoping, praying that they wouldn't be seen.

Unfortunately, that prayer went unanswered. Just as Lily and Linden reached the end of the hall, they came face to face with a young, Kenyan boy with a mop in his hands.

For a few unimaginably long seconds, they stared at each other.

Finally, in a desperate, cracking voice, Lily whispered, " _Please_."

The boy looked horribly conflicted for a moment, then he straightened his shoulders.

Linden knew his choice and closed his eyes in resignation, reaching for Lily's trembling hand.

The boy, in broken, heavily accented English, whispered, "I am sorry."

Lily's trembling exponentially increased, but Linden just hollowly smirked. "Don't worry about it, mate. Every man for himself, right?"

They Kenyan boy had a ghost of a smile on his face, but it vanished when he cupped his mouth and hollered in Swahili, calling people to them.

Linden reached over and clapped a hand on the obviously guilt-torn boy's shoulder. "Don't beat yourself over it, mate."

Then he pulled Lily behind him and ran like hell.

* * *

Strange things happen around the Evans twins.

There was an instance when some girls were making fun of Lily's hair, and the next thing anybody knew, all of her bullies were sporting obnoxious, fire-engine red hair that couldn't be washed out.

Or when Linden got into an argument with his teacher about when school let out. The teacher insisted that only the final bell signaled the end of the day, and right after that statement, a loud, blaring bell went off throughout the building in the middle of the day with a smug Linden asking if it was alright to leave.

But there were even more incidents which only the twins knew about. Instances that they only shared with each other.

And now, some of those strange things were helping them escape.

They were always small things, like when a man rushed them, his shoes mysteriously glued together. Or when a woman was on the verge of cornering them, she began to grow a beard.

Yes, some of the diversions were _strange_ , but the twins didn't question it.

They were doing pretty well up until the moment a man pulled a gun on them, demanding in broken English for them to freeze.

That was the exact moment Linden realized that they were fucked.

And by Lily's sudden hitch in breathing, she realized that too.

Another revelation struck Linden at that moment.

Both of them wouldn't be able to make it out.

But, _but_ , if he played his cards right, he could allow Lily to escape.

With that thought in mind, he released Lily's hand and flew to the man, socking him straight in the gut. As the man fell over in surprise, coughing, Linden scrambled for Lily's hand and pulled her along. "Come on, run!"

Without hesitation, she followed her brother as he sprinted down the corridor, frantically looking from side to side. The shouts from behind the duo signaled that their pursuers were catching up.

Finally, Linden spotted a window. A small window, most likely for just ventilation. He pulled to a stop and gripped a panting Lily.

Linden grabbed her face and looked her straight in the eyes. "Listen to me, Lily-flower. You need to leave through this window. I'll lead them away. Do you understand?"

Lily froze for a second, before she clutched at his shirt and sobbed into it. "No! Lindy-tree, I won't leave you! I won't! I-"

Linden pulled away from her and roughly slapped her, halting her furious protests as she looked at him shocked. "Lily-flower! You need to leave! Go get help. If I go with you, they'll just come after both of us and catch us on the streets. They live here, Lily-flower. We don't know these streets like they do. We don't stand a chance. So you go. I'll stay and buy time."

Lily's body trembled in Linden's hold, but she silently listened to him. He sighed before he pulled away and looked at her solemnly. "But before you go, you need to promise me one thing, Lily-flower. No matter what, if anything happens to me, you can't blame yourself. After all," He tried grinning cheekily, but could tell that he had fallen short. "We're just kids. We're not superheroes. So promise me. _Promise me_ , Lily-flower."

Lily looked like she was going to protest, but at her brother's unwavering look, she screwed her eyes shut and wailed. "I promise, Lindy-tree. I promise!"

Linden smirked roguishly. "Now that's what I'm talking about. My fire-filled Lily-flower." He pulled her into a rough embrace, and just as suddenly pulled away. "Now go! They're almost here!"

He strode to the window and bent down, and Lily stepped into his cupped hands. He raised himself upright and boosted his sister to the open window. Just as she was about to go through it, she turned back, her bright green eyes filled with emotion. "I love you, Lindy-tree."

Linden felt tears prick his eyes, but he pushed them back and grinned confidently at her. "Love you too, Lily-flower."

Then he turned and bolted without looking back.

* * *

The rest was a blur.

Linden could only remember sprinting as fast as he could, dodging any menacing-looking adult heading for him. Sometimes he could hear exclamations of surprise, presumably because he had caused something strange to happen to them, but he couldn't recall any specifics.

He only remembered chanting to himself, _run run run run run_.

Somehow, he made his way outside and on the streets. Just as he had predicted, he stood _no chance._ He was constantly ambushed from all sides, and only his quick wits and sharp reflexes allowed him to evade them.

He just ran and ran, until he couldn't anymore.

He looked blankly at the sheer cliff face above an ocean before him.

Behind him, his kidnappers were laughing nastily at him, declaring in a mix of Swahili and English that he had nowhere else to run.

Linden observed detachedly as one of the men approached him with a knife and a white, damp-looking cloth.

Reflexively, he stepped away from him, but that proved to be the wrong reaction.

Before anybody knew what was happening, Linden's foot met the crumbling edge of the cliff and he pitched backwards.

As he plummeted down, he heard panicked shouts above him and the wind roaring in his ears.

Finally, his brain caught up with the situation and he screwed his eyes tightly shut, bracing for impact.

But it never came.

Instead, he felt an almost unbearable wrenching in his gut and felt as if he was in some kind of vacuum cleaner, being forced through a tube that was much too small for his body, getting tighter and tighter and tighter until he couldn't breathe _can'tbreathecan'tbreathe_ …

And suddenly he could and Linden sucked in air greedily, gasping, his red hair whipping around his face.

Vaguely, he realized that he was still falling, until he _wasn't_ , and he crashed into a pile of crates roughly… and everything was black.

* * *

Linden's eyes shot open and he tried to sit up, but his entire body protested in sheer _agony_. So he listened to it and just laid there, with broken bits of wood surrounding his stationary form.

He looked up and screwed his face in confusion. Above him, he could see the tops of stone buildings. However, it was nothing like the buildings in Kenya, no matter how hard he tried to find similarities between them.

Off in the distance, he could hear the distinct cry of seagulls and could almost taste the salt in the air. So he was by the sea.

He had no idea what the hell had just happened, but his best bet was that the _strange power_ had transported him to a different place so that he could survive.

Well, he was certainly grateful for that. He'd find a way to get back home. His Lily-flower was waiting for him.

* * *

It had been five years.

Five years before Linden finally accepted the truth.

For five years, he endured. He made himself makeshift weapons and survived out on the streets, stowing away on ships and hopping from island to island, hoping for some kind of clue about his home.

It took him five years to admit to himself that he wasn't going to be able to go home again.

That he wasn't even on the same _world_ as the one he had been born in.

He would have descended into madness if he hadn't met _him_.

* * *

Over the years, Linden had developed a kind of system for himself.

When a ship docked at a port, he'd go and infiltrate it, taking supplies for himself, then hightail it out of there before anybody figured anything out.

On this particular day, he saw a gorgeous ship with majestic red sails pull into the port.

He smirked to himself and took two of his makeshift knives and jumped into the sea. When he reached the boat, he stabbed his knives into the tough wood and slowly climbed his way up until he reached a porthole. He wrenched it open and slithered inside and rapidly took note of his surroundings.

When he determined that it was safe, he crept to all the produce and began to dig through it, looking for food that would last long while he stuffed his face, trying to eat as much as he could, taking full advantage of his opportunity.

He must have been too immersed in his looting, because by the time he noticed the disgruntled grumbling approaching the door, it was much too late.

The door slammed open and a boy around his age with blue hair and a bright red nose stood at the doorway.

Linden froze, literally caught red-handed, with his cheeks bulging with food like a chipmunk and his hands elbow deep in food.

Linden slowly swallowed and turned to the boy. He raised a hand and grinned. "Yo."

"CAAAAAAPTAAAIIIIINNN! HEEEEEELLLLLLPPPP!"

Before Linden knew what was going on, people flooded the room and had their weapons aimed at him.

The red-headed boy's grin never fell, but he fell into a battle stance and took out his shank knives, positioning them defensively in front of him. "Well now, isn't this a bit of an overreaction?"

The blue-haired boy gaped at him, before he snapped, "What overreaction?! You're on our ship stealing our food!"

Linden chuckled. "Oh, come on, you guys can afford to share a little. A man's gotta eat, you know."

Suddenly, a boisterous laugh from the back silenced everyone. The crowd parted to reveal a man with a straw hat and a red coat grinning at him.

"You're quite the interesting one, aren't you? I like you! Join my crew!"

Amidst a chorus of "EEEEHHHHH?!" from the men assembled, Linden couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Your crew? Why should I?"

The man grinned. "Because I'm looking for adventure! For the truth. And for freedom."

Linden didn't know _what_ it was, but as soon as the man spoke those words, it was like a tuning fork had been pressed to his chest. It just felt… _right_.

The young teen stared at the man. "Why me?"

The man laughed uproariously again. "Because! Your hair is my favorite color! It matches my coat!"

And at that, Linden couldn't take it anymore. He laughed.

* * *

After a long night of partying and welcoming the new addition to their crew, the Roger Pirates were passed out on their deck.

Linden just stared at them in equal parts exhilaration and grief.

This was _it_. This is what he had been born for.

But now… there was no going back.

As he silently observed the crew, the red-nosed boy, _Buggy_ , he recalled, drunkenly staggered to his side.

"So how was it? Amazing, right? The Roger Pirates are the best in the world."

Linden just smiled and nodded. "Yeah, they sure are a riot."

Buggy snorted. "Obviously." He eyed the red-haired teen next to him. "Say, you never did tell us your name."

Linden blinked. That was true. Looking back to the entire day, not once had someone asked him for his name.

"So what is it? Your name?"

Linden opened his mouth to answer, but no sound came out.

Was he still Linden? Was he alright with people calling him by that name? The name being a constant reminder of Lily?

No. He wasn't.

New beginnings, right?

He turned to Buggy and smiled sadly. "A name, huh? I don't have one."

The blue-haired teen comically gaped at him before shrieking in disbelief. "No name?! What?!"

The red-haired teen just laughed. Buggy narrowed his eyes at him. "Alright, if you don't have a name, how 'bout me giving you one, huh?"

The redhead shrugged. "Go for it."

Buggy stared at him and began mumbling to himself before he snapped his fingers. "You were using shanks to fight earlier, weren't you? How about 'Shanks'?"

'Shanks' grinned, feeling a bit of the darkness in his heart melt away.

"It's perfect."

And it really was.

* * *

 **Yo! I'm glad you made it to the end! That's all for now, folks! Thank you for reading!**

 **So, the next chapter starts the bulk of the story. And it's gonna be Sage Potter centric, but Shanks will play a major role in it!**

 **So, yeah! Keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter and tell me what you think!**

 **Thank you for reading, and have a nice day!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Yo! Welcome to the 1** **st** **chapter!**

 **Now, I just gotta say, this story is inspired by a ton of fabulous stories, most notably** _ **Growing Strong**_ **by silencia20,** _ **Tell It to The Marines**_ **by Tsume Yuki, and** _ **This Bites!**_ **by Xomniac. These guys are some of my all-time favorite authors, so if you haven't checked them out yet, well, what are you waiting for! But mind you, it's only inspiration, so there will be no shameless plagiarism here, no sir.**

 **But yeah! I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Sage Potter was a smart girl.

She knew that something about her situation was a little… _off_.

It was all the small things, you see. She drew the context clues from her surroundings.

Her clothes, no matter how she looked at them, simply were unlike anything the other kids at school wore. No, they had bright and colorful shirts and pants that actually fit them. They didn't have to wear clothing that was held together with pins to make sure that it didn't slip down her slight form.

See, that was another thing. She was _small_. Very small. Almost every single adult she came across who asked her how old she was stunned when she told them the answer, they all said the same thing: "I've never seen such a small 6-year-old!"

And her classmates. They always talked about the new games and toys that they had received, or what new food they were going to eat with their parents. Not once did anyone mention anything about chores. Because they all had chores, right? She couldn't _possibly_ be the only one to wash the laundry, mow the lawn, do the dishes, cook dinner, vacuum the house, then mop the floors, then clean _Dudley's_ room, then take out the trash, then prune the hedges, then iron the clothes…

 _Right?_

Another thing. Not _once_ has she seen a child come to school hurt. Sometimes a kid will be missing from school for several days because they were sick, but even when she was limping from when Uncle Vernon 'disciplined' her, they still forced her to come to school. Even when everything was blurry and she was sniffling every few seconds and she was dizzy because Dudley had locked her out of the house during a thunderstorm, she _still_ had to come to school.

Even Dudley got sick days. She had just taken it as a fact of life, but now that she thought about it…

And finally, the issue with her 'family'. After they talked about it at school, Sage knew that there was something _really_ wrong with her situation.

* * *

It was just another normal English morning, with the skies completely overcast and a light drizzle pattering against windows.

"Good morning, class! Isn't it just a lovely day today?"

32 pairs of disbelieving eyes stared at the teacher in silence.

The young, bubbly woman just took it in stride and continued on. "And today we're going to be having a discussion circle! You all know what to do! Come and sit in a circle!"

Sage blinked blearily and slowly rose from her desk to amble to the open area. She strategically sat herself down in a corner not too close and not too far, so that she'd be a part of the circle, but only _just_.

Once the other kids noticed her, they moved faster in order to snag a place for themselves that wasn't next to her.

Everyone knew what happened if you got too close to Sage Potter. Dudley and his gang would come after you for a little ' _fun'_.

In the end, Sage watched as a timid, sniffling boy and girl ended up on either side of her, trying to scooch away from her as much as was physically possible.

As was normal, the oblivious teacher didn't take any note of it. "Alright class! This morning in our discussion circle, we're going to be talking about Family!"

She clapped her hands together, trying to get a reaction, but as always, it fell short. And as always, she ignored it and moved on like a pro.

"Now then, who would like to go first?"

Ava, one of the more popular girls in the class, raised her hand. "Well, my family is pretty weird. When we go to the movie theatre, they like to get caramel popcorn. I don't understand how anybody could like caramel popcorn."

Sage's eyes drifted to Dudley, whose face was tomato red. He looked like he was at war with himself, one, because Sage knew that he had a crush on Ava, and two, she had just dissed caramel popcorn, one of his favorite snacks. He looked like he didn't know whether to speak up and agree with her or whether he was about to smack a bitch.

In the end, he just stayed quiet, his face still as red as her hair.

A good choice, Sage commended internally. Anything to come out of Dudley's mouth was either brainless or offensive, and she knew that if he were to start another fight at school, _she_ would be the bitch getting smacked by Uncle Vernon.

And so the conversation in the talking circle went on, with kids either bragging about their parents or complaining about them.

Sage must have somehow drawn attention to herself (which wasn't hard, really, with the color of her hair), because out of the blue, Ms. Yorkson called her out.

"My, Sage, you've been awfully quiet, haven't you? Why don't you talk about your family?"

After internally cursing for a moment, Sage shrugged. "Well, there's not much to tell. My parents are dead."

Ms. Yorkson gasped in sympathy. "Oh, how dreadful! Do you know anything about them?"

"Not really. I've always been told that they were useless drunks who went and killed themselves off in a car crash, and, to quote Aunt Marge, "Good riddance."."

Ms. Yorkson looked upset for a moment before she schooled her face into its default sunny expression again, but Sage caught it before it disappeared.

"Alright, so who are you staying with, then?"

"Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia."

"Oh! That's so kind of them! So, what do you do with them?"

Again, Sage shrugged. "Nothing much. Just chores."

Ms. Yorkson looked positively ecstatic with the new topic. "Chores! That's wonderful! I'm sure everyone here does chores! Tell me, what chores so you do, Sage?"

Sage paused for a moment to formulate the complete list and took a deep breath before she began to recount her daily duties. And as the list went on and on, Ms. Yorkson's countenance grew darker and darker. Finally, after Sage finished reciting her list of chores, there was a stunned silence in the room.

Finally, Callum let out a low breath of astonishment. "And I thought that my parents were hard on me, mate."

Ms. Yorkson adopted a brittle smile before she turned to a clearly unaffected Dudley.

"And you, Dudley? If I recall correctly, aren't you Sage's cousin? Do you help her out with her chores?"

Dudley's clear look of disgust spoke volumes. "Of course not! Why would I help _her_? She's a freak! It's her job to do all the work in the house!"

Ms. Yorkson looked as if she had swallowed a lemon. "…I see. Who told you this, Dudley?"

Dudley looked bored as he stated, "My Dad and Aunt Marge."

"And what about you, Dudley? What chores do you do?"

Sage almost snorted as she watched Dudley ponder the question. Actually, she was curious to the answer herself. _Did_ he have any chores which she didn't know about?

"I… wash my hands."

Sage could almost feel the incredibility oozing out from Ms. Yorkson. "You… wash your hands…?"

Dudley proudly nodded. "Yes. Before and after every meal."

Again, nobody spoke as they pondered Dudley's statement.

Finally, Carla softly spoke. "I don't think that's a chore, Dudley."

Sage could see the first vestiges of rage bloom on Dudley's round face. "What do you mean? Of course it is! Washing up before meals is a chore! So is taking baths, brushing my teeth, and waking up in the morning! I don't like it, so it's a chore!" By the end of his tirade, his voice had risen to a shout and his fists were beginning to slam into the ground, a clear start to a tantrum.

Ms. Yorkson, bless her poor sunny soul, tried to diffuse the situation before it got too out of hand, because everyone knew what happened when Dudley Dursley threw a hissy-fit.

"Alright then, Dudley. Those are your… chores. Make sure to complete them well, yes?"

Slowly, Sage watched as her chubby cousin's body's writhing subside and the pinkness fade from his face. He grumbled out a quiet response.

Now that the cheery mood was completely obliterated, Ms. Yorkson stood up and clapped her hands together, a smile pasted on her young, pretty face. "Alright, you lot! The discussion circle is over for today. Time to make your way to the art room. I heard that Mr. Santino has something special that he wants to teach you today!"

Everyone, grumbling, stood up and made their way into a clumsy line. And, as was normal, Sage waited until she took her place at the end.

Just as the line began to trail off into the hallway, Ms. Yorkson called out for her.

"Sage, would you be a dear and hang back for just a moment?"

The small redhead just silently turned and waited.

Ms. Yorkson slowly came to a stop in front of her and examined her from head to toe.

Sage knew what she saw. A slip of a girl wearing a faded green button-down shirt 4 sizes too big for her with a belt wrapped around her waist to keep the shirt from billowing like a balloon every time she moved, and worn, holey corduroy pants that was folded multiple times at the ends.

She was also covered in scratches and bruises from Dudley's little 'games' and Uncle Vernon's 'disciplinings', but she learned to hide those under the long sleeves of her shirt.

Sage knew that she didn't make an impressive picture. She wasn't like the other girls, who came to school dressed in pretty frocks and dresses. She only had what Aunt Petunia threw at her. It was up to her to make herself look presentable.

But the one thing that she was proud of was her hair.

Her luxurious, red hair. She asked Aunt Petunia about it once, and instead of yelling at her like she normally did, Aunt Petunia just stared at her hair and quietly told her that it was just like her mother's hair.

Ever since that day, Sage made sure to take care of it the best she could. She always shampooed and conditioned it twice and brushed her hair at least thrice a day. Her hair was her treasure. It was shiny and smooth and as red as blood. She loved every inch of it.

But most importantly, it helped her cover up her scar.

She didn't know where she got it, or when she got it, all Sage knew was that there had always been a lightning-bolt shaped scar on her forehead. And Uncle Vernon _hated_ it, saying that it drew too much attention. As long as she could remember, Dudley had been jealous of it, saying that he wanted a cool-looking scar too. It got to the point where he had tried to carve one out for himself, but thankfully Aunt Petunia walked in on him holding a razor up to his face before he could have permanently mutilated himself. And since then, both Uncle Vernon and Dudley held no small amount of resentment towards it.

It was either she cover it up with her hair or she had to wear an ugly headband every time she stepped out of the house. Thank the lord for small mercies.

Her hair was also the one thing Aunt Petunia took her side on. Uncle Vernon and Dudley often complained about her hair, about how long and eye-catching it was, and always begged for Aunt Petunia to cut it, but she always refused.

It was the one reason Sage had a tiny bit of affection for her Aunt and not her other 'family' members.

After Ms. Yorkson's inspection, the pretty blonde woman bent down and knelt so that she was face to face with Sage.

"Sweetheart, would you mind meeting with me during your lunch break? I would like to talk to you."

Sage frowned. "About what? Did I do something wrong?" Oh god. She hoped that she didn't. If Uncle Vernon heard about this…

Ms. Yorkson just smiled gently. "No, nothing wrong. It's just… something in our previous discussion caught my attention, is all."

Sage examined her face for any signs of deceit, but when she found none, she nodded slowly. "That's fine, Ms. Yorkson. I can meet with you at Lunch." It wasn't like she had anyone to sit with, anyway.

The young teacher smiled. "Splendid! Come to my office in the Staff room, then. Now, you had better run on down to your next class. Don't want to keep Mr. Santino waiting!"

* * *

As soon as the bell rang, Sage slinked her way out of the classroom before she could be roped into another game of 'Hunt the Potter'. Yeesh, she hated that game.

She quietly made her way to the Staff Room and softly knocked on the door.

It didn't take very long for a teacher to come and open the door. With a smile, he said, "Hello there! Do you need anything?"

Sage nodded. "Ms. Yorkson asked me to come and meet her."

The teacher nodded and opened the door wide enough for her to slip through. Then he turned. "Follow me. I'll show you where her office is."

Sage trailed after him, not paying very much attention to the rest of the room. Finally, he came to a stop in front of a door with a sign that read _Sheila Yorkson_.

The teacher opened her door a crack then peeked in. After a few seconds, he pulled his head out and glanced down at Sage. "Sorry, it looks like she's on a call. Would you mind waiting for a few minutes?"

Sage just shrugged. "I don't mind."

"Excellent. Here, take a seat."

Sage slid into a chair placed outside Ms. Yorkson's door and waved bye to the teacher as he left.

With nothing else to do, Sage reclined back into her seat and closed her eyes.

In a few moments, she was able to catch the tail-end of the conversation Ms. Yorkson was having.

"-ut she's just a child, Mr. Bradford! You should see her! She looks… looks… _emaciated_! She's just so tiny! And she's wearing these clothes that are obviously not hers! They're much too big for her and make her look even smaller!"

There was a long pause, then, "No, it's not because the family isn't well off, sir. She lives with her Aunt and Uncle, and their son comes dressed to the nines! He's also _obviously_ very well fed and a bit spoiled, too!"

Another pause. "Sir, you need to see her to understand. I don't know how I've missed it. She's just… different from all the other children. She has this distant look in her eyes whenever I see her. She doesn't talk to the other kids and doesn't speak when she doesn't need to. That's not normal child behavior, sir!"

There was a long pause this time. "Of course I'm sure. You should have heard her talking about all the chores her Aunt and Uncle make her do. It's inconceivable for a six-year-old to run a lawnmower!"

A short pause and an exasperated sigh. "No, sir, I'm not joking. She says that her Aunt and Uncle make her mow the lawn and Iron the clothes. If that isn't child abuse, or at the very _least_ , negligence, then I'll move to Antarctica!"

Another longer pause and a resigned sigh. "I know sir. But… I just can't accept it! Families are supposed to be loving! No matter what, they're supposed to be loved and cherished regardless of whatever happens! This… just breaks my heart, Mr. Bradford. She's really the sweetest, smartest girl you'll ever meet and her spirit's slowly being broken down by those monsters she calls relatives!"

Sage tuned out the rest of the conversation.

In a matter of seconds, her whole perception of her situation had been destroyed.

So. It wasn't normal to have so many chores to do while Dudley could go out and play.

So it wasn't normal to have these kinds of clothes.

So it wasn't normal for Dudley to be so big and for her to be so small.

…And it wasn't normal for her… _family_ to treat her like this.

And with that revelation, Sage sat in stunned silence until Ms. Yorkson came out of her office to greet her with a sunny smile.

"Oh, Sage honey, you've been waiting all this time, haven't you? I'm so sorry, but you see I had a phone call I had to make. You know how it is for grownups, right?" The blonde woman smiled sheepishly.

Sage stared at her before she hesitantly piped up. "Is it true what you said? That it's not normal for me to do all the chores in the house while Dudley sits and watches the Telly?"

Ms. Yorkson's smile slid off her lips and a solemn expression found its way onto her face. She bent down so that she was face to face with the tiny redhead.

"Sage. You need to understand, most children don't have to work as hard as you do."

Sage looked perplexed. "But… I have to do all the chores because I'm a freak. That what Aunt Marge always tells me. Dudley is her 'little Diddums', so he doesn't have to do anything."

Ms. Yorkson suddenly looked very sad. "No, Sage. That's not true. Your Aunt Marge is wrong. You're not a freak. No child is. It's wrong that they've been treating you and Dudley differently."

Sage stared at her, and suddenly the last piece in the puzzle just _clicked_. "So… my family doesn't love me, right? Why don't they love me?"

Ms. Yorkson looked heartbroken. "I don't know, Sage. I really don't know."

* * *

The rest of the day, Sage was just numb.

She didn't feel anything when Dudley pushed her off the swing at recess.

She didn't feel anything when Uncle Vernon shouted at her for being late when he came to pick them up from school.

She didn't feel anything when Aunt Marge arrived at their house for dinner and threw her large coat at her roughly.

Sage just thought about the fact that her family didn't love her.

And after thinking about it for hours, Sage concluded that she must have been mistaken. After all, family couldn't _possibly_ not love one another, right?

And so she decided to make an effort. Extending the olive branch, so to say.

And so, when she was serving up dinner for Uncle Vernon, Aunt Marge and Dudley, she summoned up her courage and spoke up in a low but unwavering voice.

"Uncle Vernon? I was wondering if I could eat with you all tonight."

There was an absolute pin-drop silence in which Sage allowed herself to _hope_.

And then it was all crushed to pieces when Aunt Marge began guffawing uproariously.

It took some time for the large woman to regain control of herself, but when she did, her face was ruddy from all the laughing.

" _You_? You want to eat with _us_? What a ridiculous notion! What gave you such a preposterous idea?"

Sage was speechless for a moment, before she managed to regain control of her motor skills once more. "Well, this afternoon Ms. Yorkson told me that I'm a bit small for my age and that I should eat something other than leftovers, and well," She hesitated for a moment, "Because we're… family."

And that statement triggered another round of uncontrollable laughter. "Family? Yes, so we are, but quite reluctantly. And what exactly is your point?"

Sage swallowed, her sudden bout of courage swiftly draining away in the face of an irritated Marge. "Well, you see, family is supposed to love each other…"

And with that, Marge's mocking expression melted into a mean sneer. "Love each other? You're quite the ungrateful brat, aren't you? Look what all my brother has done for you! Housed you, fed you, clothed you, and you _dare_ ask for more?"

Sage shrinked back minutely. "But-"

"What ' _but'_?" Aunt Marge roared. "Why would we ever love a _freak_ like you?"

Sage cringed, then straightened and glared at the obese woman. "I'm not a freak! Ms. Yorkson said that no child is a freak!" And just as Sage finished her sentence, the light bulb and all of the glasses on the table simultaneously shattered.

There was a stunned silence before Marge rounded on her, snarling. "You see, you _are_ a freak! Just like your freak Mummy and freak Daddy who died in a freak accident because they didn't want to be with a _freak_ like _you_!"

Sage cupped her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"

Then a wave of pure force lifted Marge's large form and flung it back until she roughly crashed into the wall, knocking a few picture frames free from their perches.

Vernon and Dudley called out to her in alarm, but Sage kept going heedless of what she had just done.

"Mum and Dad _loved_ me! Because family _loves_ each other!"

And with that, Sage turn tail and bolted.

From behind, she could hear her Aunt's furious shouts of, "That little bitch! If she thinks that she can get away with that then she has no clue what's coming for her! Ripper, go bring her to me!"

Sage just managed to slam the door to her closet shut right before it shuddered under the onslaught of the gigantic bulldog. Sage shrieked and scuttled as far away from the door as she could, but in her tiny, cramped closet, it wasn't very far.

She watched in terror as the wooden fibers of the door began to snap, revealing the dog's angry eyes.

Tears streamed down Sage's face as the canine grew closer and closer.

She closed her eyes and made one desperate prayer.

 _I just want family who loves me. Please… that's all I ask for._

And suddenly there was no more barrier between her and Ripper.

Sage resignedly tensed her body for what was sure to be _**pain**_ , but just when the dog's teeth were about to sink into her, she felt an intense pull at her stomach and suddenly her body was squeezed until it was unbearable and she couldn't breathe, _can'tbreathecan'tbreathecantbreathe_ …

And suddenly she _could_ , and she was falling.

* * *

It's a well-established fact that the Red-Haired Pirates loved to party.

Meat, booze, bonfires, they always go for the whole shebang.

And, as is another accepted fact, with great partying comes great hangovers.

And sometimes, with great hangovers comes great hallucinations.

Hey, it wasn't Shank's fault that sometimes the morning after made him a little trippy, especially when you were as hard of a partier as he was.

But for the life of him, he just couldn't figure out why on hell he was hallucinating a small, red figure falling towards him from the sky.

Even as he stared at it, it never went away. In fact, it just got alarmingly closer and closer.

Shanks stuck out a hand and hit something squishy.

"Oi! Roo! Wake up!"

" _SNORT_ \- Huh? Wha- Cap'n?"

"Roo. Tell me. Do you see what I see?"

Lucky Roo just groaned. "Captain, we're not playing that game again."

Shanks shushed him. "No, seriously. Do you see it too?"

With a grunt of effort, Roo rolled himself onto his back and gazed up at the sky. After scrunching his face up in confusion, he replied, "For once, I _do_ see it. Huh. Whaddya know. I'm going crazy too."

Both the men watched it for a few seconds, before Roo asked, "Cap'n? Is it just me, or is it getting closer?"

And indeed, the red figure was growing larger by the second.

Shanks rubbed his ears. "Can you hear that? It's like a high-pitched squealing noise."

Roo nodded. "Yeah. I can hear it." And after a pause. "…We're tripping, aren't we?"

Shanks nodded. "Probably."

Both of them watched as the figure grew larger and larger and the squealing grew louder and louder, until they were able to make out that it was actually a girl falling from the high heavens screaming her ass off.

Shanks only had time to declare "Oh shit-!" before he hardened his arms and chest with Armament Haki just as the figure slammed into him.

The combined force of the fall sent both the redheads smashing through the deck.

Lucky Roo just looked at the hole in astonishment for a few seconds before he clumsily stumbled to his feet and cupped his hands around his mouth.

"OI! WAKE THE HELL UP! SOMETHING JUST ATTACKED THE CAPTAIN! GET YOUR ASSES READY FOR BATTLE!"

There was a collective groan of pain before everyone began springing up and readying their weapons.

Benn Beckman rubbed his face before he exhaled exasperatedly and rolled to his feet. He yawned and walked over to Roo and the hole, stretching his arms on the way.

"What happened this time, Roo?"

Both men peered down into the hole marring the smooth deck of the Red Force.

"Well, Captain woke me up then asked if I was seeing what he was seeing. I thought that he was playing that stupid game again, but this time there really was something falling outta the sky. The next thing you know the thing fell straight on the Captain and put a hole in our deck."

The men continued to stare at the hole. Beckman sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "On any other day, I'd think that you were joking, but as it stands, the proof is right here."

Roo snorted. "Believe me, if I didn't know better, I'd think that I was joking too. But hey. This is the Grand Line, after all. Expect the unexpected, right?'

Beckman grunted in agreement before he leaned in so he could see into the hole better. "Captain? You all right?"

The only response to his query was a pain-filled groan.

Beckman raised his hands to his mouth and lit a cigarette. "See? He's fine."

A groaning Yasopp staggered his way over to the duo. "Whoooo, that was some good shit last night. So, what'd I miss?"

Roo was already gnawing on another piece of meat. "Shanks got hit with something that fell from the sky. Couldn't really see what it was, but it was red."

Yasopp whistled as he cracked his back. "No kidding. Huh. That's never happened before."

Beckman blew out a plume of smoke. "Tell me about it."

Yasopp leaned in and hollered, "Oi! Captain! You need a hand?"

Another groan was his answer.

Beckman grunted. "I'm going to take that as a yes." Then he leaped into the hole.

Roo finished off his piece of meat before snatching another one and jumping in after him. Yasopp sighed exasperatedly before he grabbed his rifle and leaped in after them.

Down on the lower level of the deck was the fearsome Pirate Captain lying in a heap with a bundle of red nestled across his chest.

Blearily, Shanks opened his eyes to meet those of his crewmates and groaned again. "Talk about terrible ways to aggravate a killer hangover," he rasped.

Simultaneously, all of his assembled crewmate's eyebrows raised.

Yasopp scrunched his face up in confusion. "Uh… correct me if I'm wrong, but is that a _girl_ , Captain?"

Shanks just nodded. "Yes, it would seem that it is."

Roo just shook his head. "Now I've really seen everything. Little girls raining straight out of the sky. What's next? She'd turn out to be long lost family?" he scoffed.

Shanks' eyes sharpened. "What makes you say that, Roo?"

Beckman lifted a hand and pulled his cigarette out of his mouth. "Well, she has the exact same hair as you do, which is surprising because across the entire Grand Line, there's never been anyone to match your exact same shade."

At that, Shanks' eyes widened and he scrambled to sit up, groaning when his body protested the motion. He stared at the small girl intensely.

After a long, uncomfortable pause, Shanks looked up with a fire in his eyes and growled out, "This had better not be some kind of cosmic joke, otherwise someone's going to die."

* * *

 **Aaaannnddd that's a wrap! Thanks for reading!**

 **Whooo, bet you all weren't expecting an update this soon, weren't you? *Wiggles eyebrows* But sadly, this trend is not to continue because my classes are starting on the 17** **th** **. A real pity.**

 **But yeah! Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you all have a nice day! That's all for now, folks!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Yo! Guess who has another chapterrrr!**

 **Ding ding ding! The correct answer is ME!**

 **So yeah, I hope you all like it! XD**

* * *

 _Poke_.

 _Poke_.

 _Poke_.

…

 _Pokepokepokepokepoke…_

Sage's eyes twitched in irritation before they fluttered open. There was a yelp, then a cautious silence.

Sage blinked blearily a few times, trying to get her bearings. For some reason, the view above her showed a broken wooden ceiling revealing a clear blue sky. The floor underneath her undulated gently, rocking back and forth.

She slowly tried to sit herself upright but whimpered when her body panged with soreness. Once she was situated comfortably, her eyes fell on the men surrounding her.

There were several men surrounding her dressed in the strangest manner. All of their clothes were well-worn and obviously patched up. The had the oddest designs and bright, eye-catching colors she hadn't seen before.

The men themselves were the strangest. There was a stern-looking tall, _tall_ man who was silently smoking a cigarette, an immensely fat man gnawing on a piece of meat on a bone and a grinning tanned man with wavy blonde hair sporting a long gun.

Sage gulped, eyeing the weapon in trepidation.

 _Poke_.

She felt a prod at her side and turned and met the sight of a man with brilliant red hair (just like hers, her mind supplied) huddled into a corner, suspiciously scrutinizing her while holding a long broom. The handle was positioned towards her and was inching closer and closer, obviously coming in for another poke.

Just when the broom was about to dig into her side, Sage gently gripped it, stopping its motion. She turned to the red-haired man and regarded him.

She decided to start simple. "Hello."

There was a frozen silence before the man shrieked.

" _YAAHHHHHH_!"

Startled, Sage let out a shriek of her own while releasing the broom. " _EEEEEEEEEKKK_!"

So sudden was the noise, the blonde man jumped back and shrieked as well. " _WAAAAAHHHH_!"

In response to that, the red-haired man shrieked again. " _YAAHHHHHH_!"

He swung the broom around in alarm which caused Sage to cower away from him in fear of being hit and shriek again. " _EEEEEEEEEKKK_!"

Accidentally, she tumbled too far and bumped into the blonde man, who leaped away from her as if she was on fire. " _WAAAAAHHHH_!"

The man immediately swung his gun around and pointed the barrel towards Sage's face.

" _EEEEEEEEEKKK!"_ She jumped back in terror but unfortunately landed on the red-haired man, who in turn screamed. " _YAAHHHHHH!"_

Finally, when Sage untangled herself from the red-haired man's flailing form, she scuttled into a corner and crouched down, wrapping her arms around her knees and glared distrustfully at the men in the room.

She was scared, confused and disoriented, and when she saw that the blonde-haired man still had his gun pointed towards her, that was the last straw.

She felt her eyes well up and a burn in the back of her nose start to form. She sniffled.

Immediately, all of the previously stationary men went into a panic. The tall, stern-looking one caught the spazzing red-haired one and knocked him roughly on the head, grumpily murmuring something to him. The fat one had whacked the blonde-haired one's face and had yelled at him to put his gun away. The blonde man squealed and removed his gun and the red-haired man was whining loudly while rubbing the bump on his head. All of them were stumbling around randomly trying to salvage the situation before the little red-haired girl broke down completely.

Sage just stared at the complete chaos in silence.

When the men had calmed down again (well, at least when they stopped crashing into each other…), they all turned to her.

She stared at them.

They stared at her.

Finally, the blonde-haired man slowly broke away from the group and approached her cautiously, like one would do to a wild animal. Sage stared at him with wary green eyes.

He knelt down in front of her and extended a hand. "Hello there."

Sage stared silently for a few moments before she mumbled, "Hi."

The blonde man cracked a smile in relief. "What's your name?"

"…Sage."

The man smiled gently. "Hello, Sage. May I ask where you're from?"

Sage hesitated. "I'm from England. Near London."

There was a strangled sound from the red-haired man and Sage met his eyes. Her eyes widened when she finally got the chance to properly observe him.

They both had the same exact hair. _Exactly. The. Same._ Which was strange, because Sage had _never_ seen someone with exact same hair as her. The only person she knew with hair like hers was…

"My mother." Sage mumbled. She courageously met the man's eyes. "Do you know my mother?"

The red-haired man silently stared at her before lowly asking "What's her name?"

Sage flinched back. "I… don't know…"

The fat one looked at her funny. "You don't know your own mother's name?"

Sage sadly shook her head. "Both my parents died when I was a baby. I only know what Aunt Petunia told me about them."

The red-haired man suddenly knelt before her, a crazed look in his eyes. He firmly grabbed her shoulders and brought her close to his face. Sage gasped at the abruptness of the action.

"You know Petunia?! How is she?! And how about Lily and Mum and Dad? Are they all ok?!"

Sage whimpered and tried to wriggle back away from him but the red-headed man's grip was firm on her shoulders. The tall, stern-looking one reached over and placed a hand on the red-headed man's shoulder.

"Let her go, Captain. You're scaring her."

Abruptly the man released her and Sage cringed back into her corner. The red-headed one sighed and rubbed his face. When he looked back at Sage, it was with a calmer expression.

"Alright. Your aunt is named Petunia, right? What does she look like?"

Sage eyed him. "She's really tall and thin with a really long neck. She has reddish-yellow hair and green eyes."

The red-haired man visibly brightened. "And? How about Lily?"

Sage furrowed her brows. "…I don't know a Lily."

The red-haired man frowned as well. "You know, Lily. Petunia's younger sister. Lily. Bright red hair, green eyes, always smiling, that Lily."

Sage wrinkled her nose in thought. "Aunt Petunia only had one sister, who was my Mum. She told me that I have the same hair as her."

Sage watched as the realization slowly dawned on the man. His face went from confusion to shock to anger and finally grief.

He turned around and walked to a wall where he leaned against it with his eyes closed, agony still clearly on his face.

The room was silent except for the man's ragged breaths.

After a long pause, softly, hesitantly, Sage asked him, "So, did you know her, sir? My Mum?"

The man remained with his eyes closed for a while longer, before he opened them and regarded her. His eyes were shiny with emotion and his voice was thick. "You said your name was Sage?"

The small red-headed girl carefully nodded.

The man looked at her, his voice wistful. "When Lily and I were kids, we lived in a house that had a big field behind it. Every day we used to play in it. There were flowers. Hundreds and hundreds of flowers, all different kinds of shapes and sizes. We loved all of them, but we had our favorites. Hers was the Honeysuckle. God, she used to just pick loads of them and suck all the honey out. But mine," his voice hitched. "Mine was the Sage. I loved them because of how bright the flowers were and because of how fuzzy the leaves were. They were always my favorite. And she knew that." His voice hitched again and he squeezed his eyes shut.

Sage stared at him. "Who… are you?"

The red-haired man stared back at her. "My name was Linden. I'm Lily's twin brother."

Sage gaped at him. "So… you're the boy in that photo I saw when I was cleaning out Aunt Petunia's room…"

The man nodded. "A long time ago I was separated from them and ended up here."

Sage just nodded, absorbing the information in.

The chubby man broke in. He looked thoughtful and mildly suspicious as he questioned her. "What did you mean when you said that you were cleaning your Aunt's room? Doesn't she do it herself?"

Sage shook her head. "Aunt Petunia does like things nice and tidy, but Uncle Vernon makes me do it instead."

The fat man intensely stared at her. "Why?"

Sage shrugged. "I don't know. I was told that it was because I was a freak."

Immediately the temperature in the room dropped.

The stern man tilted his head as he observed her. "Is this the only thing they ask you to do?"

"No. I do a lot more. Ms. Yorkson said that it was wrong since Dudley didn't have to do them and I did."

The blonde man wrinkled his forehead. "Dudley?"

Sage nodded. "Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's son. He doesn't have to do any of the chores and watches the Telly all day. I have to do all of them."

The stern man frowned. "What do your Aunt and Uncle make you do?"

As Sage recited her list of daily duties, the mood in the room grew darker and darker. When she finally finished, all of the men were fuming.

The tall one raised a cigarette to his mouth and lit it. As he puffed out, he asked her, "And how old are you?"

Sage replied, "I'm six."

Immediately the blonde man exploded. "WHAT! No way. There is _no way_ that you're six years old. Usopp is five right now and you're barely half his size!"

The fat man was scowling. "What did you eat?"

Sage shrugged again. "Well, when I was cooking and no one was looking, I used to sneak a few pieces of dinner while I was making it, but otherwise I was only allowed to eat leftovers." Sage wrinkled her nose. "But there wasn't many. Usually only fruit, because Uncle Vernon, Aunt Marge and Dudley didn't really like fruits. They usually finished everything, and Aunt Marge usually gave the leftover meat to her dogs before I could get it."

Sage frowned and eyed the fat man. "They ate a lot. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Marge were even larger than you, sir, no offence." The fat man casually waved her remark away, crunching on his bone.

The stern man flicked his cigarette and some ash fell to the floor. "Who is 'Aunt Marge'?"

Sage grimaced. "She's Uncle Vernon's sister. She's a dog breeder so she always has a gigantic, mean dog with her. I don't like her very much. Sometimes she tells the dogs to bite me when she gets mad, and then it leaves marks and hurts for weeks."

The stern man scowled. "Show me your marks."

Sage extended an arm out towards him and pulled up the long, billowy sleeve. There marring her smooth white shin was tan scar tissue shaped in the form of large dog bites.

The temperature in the room dropped once again. The tall man leaned back. "I see… Do you have any more marks?"

Sage slowly nodded. "I have a few on my back form Uncle Vernon's 'disciplinings'."

The blonde man growled. "Disciplinings?"

Sage nodded. "Uncle Vernon said that whenever I displayed my freakishness or embarrassed the family or didn't follow directions I was supposed to be disciplined so that I wouldn't do it again."

The fat man gnawed roughly on his bone. "Show us."

Sage eyed them, then hesitantly turned around and raised her shirt, revealing her back to them. She heard someone inhale sharply, then silence. She let her shirt slide back down before she turned around to face them once more.

The stern man, the fat man and the blonde man all looked furious. But when Sage turned to the red-haired man, she felt chills run down her spine. His face was carefully blank and he hadn't spoken once during the questioning. But somehow his scarred, grey eyes contained leagues of pure, unadulterated _rage_.

The fat man crunched viciously on his bone. "Do you get 'disciplined' often?"

Sage narrowed her eyes. "No. It used to be a lot more, but now I've learned how to avoid it. I do all the cooking on time and make sure that I don't score higher marks than Dudley at school. The first time I brought home a test with a better grade than him, I was disciplined so hard I couldn't walk to school without it hurting."

The blonde man was baring his teeth. "And what about your Aunt Petunia and your cousin? They don't hurt you, do they?"

Sage tilted her head. "Well, Aunt Petunia never disciplines me. Whenever I'm getting disciplined, she just goes to another room. I like her better because sometimes she gives me some of Dudley's old clothes to wear and she helps me cook dinner when Aunt Marge comes over. She also refuses to cut my hair, and that makes me super happy." Sage clutched at her hair protectively before she continued.

"But Dudley is mean. He and his friends play 'Hunt the Potter' at school and when they catch me, they beat me up. It really hurts. And sometimes after I'm done doing a chore, Dudley will come and mess it up and then Uncle Vernon will come and discipline me. I don't like him very much."

There was a hush as everyone absorbed Sage's words.

Finally, the red-haired man spoke up. His eyes were hidden beneath his strawhat and his voice was low.

"What happened?"

Sage stared at him in confusion. He elaborated. "When I came here, I was about to die. So what happened to you for you to end up here?"

Sage grimaced. "Well, it's a long story…"

The blonde man snorted then perched himself on a nearby crate. "Trust me, sweetheart, we've got all the time in the world."

"Well, alright then." Sage huffed. "Well, it started with this morning…"

And Sage detailed out the exact circumstances that occurred the previous day. She told them all about the discussion circle, about Ms. Yorkson and about the fiasco of a dinner.

"And then I asked Uncle Vernon if I could eat with them, and Aunt Marge laughed at me," recalled Sage sadly. "She told me that I was a freak and that my parents were freaks too and that they killed themselves so that they wouldn't have to be with me."

At that statement, all of the men violently bristled but didn't interrupt. Sage continued on.

"I got really mad at her, then… the light bulbs exploded."

As expected, the men started in surprise. "The what exploded?"

"Sometimes… weird things happen around me. Most of the time it helps me, but whenever something happens Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia get _really_ mad about it. They say it's because of my freakishness and Uncle Vernon disciplines me really hard those days. I can't really control it, though."

The men regarded her. One of them mumbled, " _Just like the Captain…_ " The others shushed him and gestured to her. "All right. Go on."

Sage nodded. "And after that, I sent Aunt Marge flying back into the wall and ran away. I went to go hide in my cupboard-"

"Your _what_?" The blonde man sounded absolutely incredulous.

"My cupboard. The one under the stairs. That's where I sleep."

The blonde man looked as if he were about to throw a fit, but the fat man wrapped a hand around his mouth and nodded to the young girl to continue.

"So then I ran to my cupboard and closed the door, but then Ripper, Aunt Marge's dog, started smashing against it. I was really scared because Ripper was bigger than Aunt Marge's normal dogs and he was much angrier than them, too. Aunt Marge called him 'her prized bull'. He was almost as big as me!"

Sage took a deep breath as she realized she was going on a tangent. "So then I hid in my closet and Ripper was breaking the door down."

The small redhead sighed softly and looked down sadly. "I was really scared and sad. I knew that my family didn't love me and I know that family is supposed to love each other. And just when Ripper was about to bite my neck," Sage gestured to the area, "I made a wish. I wished that I would have family that actually loved me."

Sage scrunched her face in thought. "After that, there was this really strange squeezing feeling, like I was going through a tube. It got really tight, then suddenly the feeling went away and I was in the sky."

When the men stared at her, Sage cringed defensively. "Well, it's true!"

All the men continued to stare at her. Just when Sage was about to speak up to defend herself, the men all looked at each other and nodded.

"Seems legitimate."

Sage gaped at them. "…What?"

The fat man shrugged. "Well, it is the Grand Line. All sorts of crazy things happen here."

"Grand… Line?"

The blonde man looked at her in amused pity. "Yeah, sweetheart. The Grand Line. I don't know exactly how, but you've ended up here."

Sage looked flabbergasted. "…Where exactly is it? The Grand Line?"

The blonde man scratched his head. "Well, you know… in between the Calm Belts… we're in Paradise right now, so that's something…"

"…Paradise?"

The tall, stern man clicked his tongue. "Stop confusing her, Yasopp. She obviously doesn't know what the Grand Line is."

The fat man squinted at the tall one. "What? What person doesn't know about the Grand Line? Even everyone in the Blues knows about them."

"That's exactly why."

For the first time in a long while, the red-haired man spoke. He looked up from beneath the shadows of his hat and his eyes were solemn. "She doesn't know about it because she's not from here."

"Huh? What do you mean, Captain?"

The red-haired man sat himself down on a crate and leaned against a wall. He exhaled. "I haven't told you guys this, but a long time ago, before I even met Captain Roger, I was a civilian."

He paused, then resumed his explanation. "Well, my family liked to go to exotic places. And one day we bit off more than we could chew." His grey eyes bored into the wall opposite him. "Me and Lily were kidnapped by slave traders, but we managed to escape. However, we had guys chasing after us so I sent Lily ahead and held them off. But soon I couldn't run anymore, because they had me cornered on a cliff. One thing led to another and I fell. Then," He intensely eyed Sage. "The same feeling happened to me. The tight squeezing. And then I ended up on the Grand Line."

Everyone was quiet as they processed his words. "But Captain… after all this time, you couldn't go back to your Island to see your family?"

The red-haired man laughed harshly. "Well, see, that's the thing. I tried. For five goddamn years, I tried. But I soon realized that I couldn't. That place I had ended up on, full of pirates and bandits and Sea Kings was different from the place I had grown up in."

He gravely looked each of them in the eye. "I don't know exactly what happened, but the most logical conclusion that I could come up with was that I had somehow transcended time and space. In simpler terms," He ran a hand through his rich red hair. "I had travelled worlds."

Sage stared up at him with huge eyes. _What_?

Her reaction wasn't the only incredulous one. All of the assembled men looked dumbstruck.

Finally, Sage softly piped up. "So… are you all aliens?"

The red-haired man chuckled before reaching over and ruffling her hair. "Sorry, kiddo, but no. We're all human, just… living in different places."

Sage pouted as she tried to straighten her hair out. "Really?"

The man smiled. "Really."

Sage relaxed. "Good. Because in all of Dudley's movies, the aliens always try to eat the humans. I'm glad that you all won't eat me." Then, as an afterthought, she suspiciously glanced at the fat man and confirmed, "Right?"

At that, the somber mood in the room broke and all the men chuckled. The fat man shook his head with a smile. "Don't have to worry about that, kid. I like something with a little more meat on its bones."

At Sage's mildly terrified look, the men chuckled again. The red-haired man ruffled the girl's hair once more before grinning down at her. "Well, I'm gonna like having you around, that's for sure."

Sage stared up at him, her green eyes wide with shock. "What?"

The man's grin dissolved into a gentler, more tender smile. "Well, it is what you wished for, isn't it? You're Lily's girl, which makes you family. I don't know what happened to Petunia over the years, but she used to really care about me and Lily. But," He looked unbelievably sad for a moment, "I can see that it's not the same for you. But me…" He trailed off, then bent down to gently lift her form her corner and pull her into a loose embrace.

"I love my family. All of them, whether they're related by blood or not. You see these guys here?" He gestured to the three men who were smiling at the scene. "These guys are my family, too. And just like them, I'll love you. You don't need that family when you've gotten this one."

Sage stared at him while she slowly processed his words. Unbidden, tears slowly filled her eyes when the full realization of what had just taken place hit her.

Hoarsely, hopefully, she whispered, "I have a family?"

The red-haired man smiled down at her. "You sure do. One that loves you."

Sage looked up at him while tears silently slipped down her cheeks. "…Really?"

The man pulled her close. "Really. I promise."

Slowly, Sage relaxed and buried her face in the man's muscular chest. A soft sob escaped her, before another, then another. In a few moments, she was quietly weeping into the man's chest, tightly gripping his clothes.

The red-haired man smiled as he cradled her small head closer and closed his eyes, tightly embracing her. His eyes filled up with tears as well.

"Call me Shanks, kiddo. Welcome to the family."

* * *

 **Aaaannnndddd that's a wrap, folks! Thank you so much for reading!**

 **Phew, I'm SO GLAD that I managed to get this out! Classes have started and it's already ca-RAZY. Jeez, the pain of a College student…**

 **But yeah! Thank you all so much for reading! I'll try to get another chapter out soon! So then I shall see you all later! Have a nice day!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Yo! Hi again, everyone! I'm so sorry for the long wait, but hey, sometimes life refuses to let you do anything fun...**

 **So I just wanna say this story is dedicated to silencia20, without whom I wouldn't even be writing this story. Seriously, if I hadn't read Growing Strong, I wouldn't even be inspired enough to pick up my laptop and do this.**

 **So yeah! Without further ado, I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Shanks was grinning from ear to ear as he came out from underneath the deck. He spotted his crewmates crowding around the hole in the deck _(yeah, he really needed to get that fixed soon…),_ looking absolutely bewildered and more than a little hung over.

In his arms, little Sage snuggled closer as she snoozed. The poor creature had cried herself to sleep and latched onto him.

He still couldn't believe it. After all those years he finally had a reminder of _them_. Of Mum and Dad, of Petunia, of England.

Of Lily.

Shanks' smile faded slightly. He had spent countless years thinking about all of them. No matter how much he moved on, he still couldn't let that part of his past go. He lost count of all the times he used to just stare up into the night sky after a banquet had wound down, just speaking to the stars about his adventures, as if wherever she was, Lily-flower could hear him.

But now… Lily was dead.

Shanks roughly pushed it to the back of his mind. He would dwell on that fact later. He knew that it wasn't good to compartmentalize, but right at this moment, he couldn't break down. His crew needed him. Sage needed him.

He looked down at her slumbering form. She was so tiny. _So tiny_. It scared him. He didn't know what they had been feeding her back at Petunia's, but he would make sure that she was alright again.

He scowled fiercely at the thought of Petunia. He loved her the same as the rest of his family, but now, after hearing what she'd done to Sage…

Well. Shanks knew that if he ever met her again, she would answer to him, regardless of them sharing the same blood or not.

Sage murmured softly and cuddled into him. Shanks gazed at her fondly.

Regardless of her small size, she was beautiful. She had the same unique shade of deep red hair that he too sported and her eyes were the same expressive forest green as Lily's had been.

But her face… it was nothing like Lily's. While Lily's face had soft, gentle curves, little Sage's features were much more pronounced. It looked sculpted and regal, almost noble. Shanks' best guess is that her pronounced looks came from her father.

"Uhhh, Cap'n… what is that?"

Shanks blinked and looked up at his crew who had surrounded him. They were all peering curiously at the small girl nestled in his arms. He grinned and shifted so that they could get a better look at her.

"Look at her, men! Isn't she the cutest thing ever!"

His crewmates all blankly stared at him. "Is that a girl?"

Shanks had a shit-eating grin. "Yup!"

"…What."

Yasopp walked out from behind him and slung an arm around the tall redhead's shoulder. "She fell out of the sky onto Captain. Her name's Sage and we're keeping her."

There was a stunned silence which was only broken by the sound of Roo's gnawing on a piece of meat.

" _WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!_ "

Sage flinched at the loud outcry and burrowed further into Shank's chest. Benn took note of it and quickly silenced them.

"Be quiet. She's sleeping. She's the Captain's niece, so make sure that she feels welcomed on board." Beckman gave them all his signature piercing stare which made all of them shrink back slightly. "She's not had the best life, so be gentle with her." Benn glared at everyone and they all shivered at the unspoken _Or else_.

Shanks laughed, breaking the somber mood. "Dahahaha! It's alright men, you all can meet her later after she's woken up. Until then," Shanks turned to his ship's doctor. "Kailaz, I want you take a look at her."

The lanky man nodded and made his way over to the sick-bay where Shanks followed.

Beckman barked some orders to the men which sent them scuttling to go and follow them while Yasopp and Roo trailed after the redhead into the room.

Shanks gently laid her down onto a cot and she grumbled, grabbing onto his black cloak. He chuckled and sat next to her so that it was within reach.

Kailaz bent over Sage and began gently prodding her. After several minutes of examinations, he looked solemn.

"Vice-Captain was right. She hasn't had the best life, Captain. She has a lot of trauma and she's severely underdeveloped for her age."

Although Roo's eyes were hidden by the goggles that he always worse, it was clear that he was frowning. "Can you fix her?"

Kailaz looked upset. "I don't know… the only thing that I can think of is just giving her a proper diet. She should be ok in time."

Beckman had walked in in the middle of the examination. He slowly took his cigarette out of his mouth and crushed it between his fingers. "That's it?"

Kailaz nodded. "Whenever I used to treat slum-rats, it's what I would do. I really don't have any professional treatment for these kinds of things."

Shanks stared at him, then nodded blankly. "Alright then. Benny, tell the crew to set sail for Reverse Mountain."

Beckman nodded once and walked out while the rest of his crewmates stared at him perplexed.

Shanks smiled wryly while looking at the small form of his niece. He reached up to his beloved hat and pulled out a small scrap of paper with a neat _C_ on it. As he laid it out on his palm, it drifted slowly to the side.

"We're going to meet Crocus-san."

* * *

Sage shyly peeked from behind Shanks.

All of the Red-haired pirates looked at her curiously.

She fisted handfuls of Shanks' heavy black cloak as she slowly inched out from behind her Uncle. Taking a deep breath, she smiled softly. "Hello."

The men smiled back at her. "Hi there! What's your name?"

The young girl squirmed. "Sage."

"Hi Sage. Where are you from?"

"Um… I used to live at Little Whinging, on the edge of London…"

The men all looked at a beaming Shanks in askance. The redhead shrugged and grinned. "An island really far away. Neigh impossible to get to."

Beckman, Roo and Yasopp smirked at the truth of that statement.

The men nodded in acceptance then turned back to examine the girl.

Sage decided that she had enough of the scrutiny and buried her face into Shanks' cloak. Shanks chuckled and bent down, and almost immediately Sage scurried onto his back and clung onto him, looking very much like a baby koala.

The men chuckled at the sight and dispersed, picking up on Sage's uncomfortable mood.

Beckman approached the two redheads and peered at the girl. "Are you alright?"

Sage nodded mutely. "I'm… I'm happy. But… even though everyone here is Uncle Shanks' family… I…" She trailed off unsurely, looking to the floor and bracing herself, as if preparing herself for a berating.

Beckman and Shanks frowned at her reaction. "There's nothing wrong with being a little wary. Just because they're Shanks' family doesn't mean that you have to trust them right away. After all, trust is earned. And after what you've been through, I doubt that you'd give yours away so easily."

Sage was silent as she continued to cling to Shanks' back.

Yasopp chuckled and gently laid a hand on top of her brilliant red hair and tenderly ruffled it. "Don't worry, kiddo. You're not with your aunt and uncle anymore. You're with us, and that means that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want. After all, that's what being a pirate means, absolute freedom!"

Sage peered at him with wide eyes. "Whatever I want…?"

Roo grinned up at her. "Yup! That's why people become pirates! Freedom!"

Sage looked at Shanks, who good-naturedly scowled at his closest friends. "It hasn't even been a day on the Red Force and you're already trying to brainwash my niece. For shame, you filthy pirates! I will not let you corrupt my innocent little flower's mind!"

Then he pulled out his sword and swung it at Beckman playfully, making sure that he didn't dislodge Sage from her perch.

Sage giggled gleefully when Beckman drew his rifle with a smile and deflected Shanks' strike. Roo playfully attempted to pull Sage off of Shanks' back, but the pirate Captain skillfully spun around before Sage could be taken from him.

"No!" Shanks dramatically howled. "Mutiny! My own officers are rebelling against me! You aren't even seven yet Sage, and you already have men fighting over you! What'll I do when you're finally full grown?!"

By this time, the entire crew had assembled to watch the show and were raucously cheering the four on.

Sage grinned wildly when Yasopp theatrically rose and proclaimed, "None are good enough for Princess Sage! After all, she is the Princess of the Red Force, the crew of one of the Four Emperors of the Grand Line!" He leaped forward as if to whisper conspiratorially in her ear. "Except for Usopp, of course. He shall be worthy of all women when he grows up!"

Shanks let out a threatening growl and turned to Yasopp with murder in his eyes, all semblance of playfulness gone from them. He viciously bit out, " _What did you say?!"_

Yasopp paled and backpedaled rapidly. "Uh-wha-I mean-"

Shanks leaped roughly at Yasopp and Sage had to hold on tightly to him lest she got thrown away.

"NO ONE WILL BE GOOD ENOUGH FOR SAGE! NO ONE!"

The enraged redhead flew at the blond, who was doing all he could to keep his furious captain from decapitating him. Beckman and Roo jumped into the fray as well, trying to calm their out-of-control Captain down before he killed their Sniper.

From the sidelines, the rest of the men hollered and whooped, loudly placing bets and dissing each other.

As Sage took it all in, she laughed, and it wasn't a laugh she had ever laughed before. This laugh was full of euphoria and freedom. Her small frame that was hanging off of Shanks' back emanated pure joy.

Hearing her laugh, all the Red-Haired pirates smiled victoriously, their objective complete.

* * *

The Red-Haired pirates were having a banquet in Sage's honor, and it was still going strong.

Booze was being passed around and slabs of meat and sweets were being cooked by the dozen.

As always, Shanks was the life of the party and almost everyone had gravitated towards him. Every so often boisterous laughter punctuated the sound of Shanks' expert storytelling.

Beckman was reclined in his usual spot with a bottle of rum as he fondly watched over all of the antics that his rowdy crew got themselves into.

He kept a close eye on the small redhead who wove her way through the crowd, talking to the crewmembers and familiarizing herself with them.

He smiled. Even though Sage clearly had a reserved nature after her years with her abusive relatives, she was slowly but surely coming out of her shell.

Finally, she made her way over to the First Mate. He eyed her curiously as she slid herself next to him with a smile on her face. It grew as she watched her Uncle gesture enthusiastically with his arms and the surrounding men explode with laughter.

Slowly, Beckman lifted a hand and removed the cigarette out of his mouth to take a swig of liquor.

"So… how you doing, kid?"

Sage beamed. "I'm good… This is nice."

Beckman smiled and took another sip of his liquor.

"Say, Benny…"

Beckman grimaced half-heartedly. So the name had caught on, huh? Shanks was the only one who called him that anymore. Well, up till now.

"Yeah, kid?"

She looked at him with impossibly big green eyes. "Where are we going?"

"We're going to Reverse Mountain."

"Where's that?"

"At the beginning of the Grand Line."

Sage nodded, but Beckman knew that she didn't really know what that meant. Ah, well. He'll teach the kid later. God knows the kind of shit that the others would feed her in the name of education.

"Why?"

Beckman looked at her. "Hmm?"

"Why are we going there?"

Beckman puffed on his cigarette. "For you."

Sage's eyes widened. "For me?"

"Mmm. See, Shanks used to be on another crew before he formed the Red-Haired Pirates. We're going to meet the doctor so that he could check up on you."

Sage was silent for a long while. "So… you guys are travelling really far just for me?" She looked perplexed by that fact and Beckman felt his heart break a little.

He sighed and pulled the girl closer to his side. She looked up at him in surprise.

"You gotta understand, kid. Shanks is one of the most amazing men I've ever met in my life. That's the reason I chose to follow him. But even though he's happy most of the time, I've seen him look so lonely. And there's nothing me or the other guys can do to get rid of it."

Beckman looked down to see Sage focusing intently on his words. "You see kid, I don't believe in God." He eyed her. "But I do believe in Karma. Shanks has done his fair share of philanthropy and I believe that you're the reward for it."

They both sat in silence for a while and watched the party rage around them.

"Hey Benny?"

"Mmmm?"

"…Thanks."

"Don't mention it, kid. We're nakama now."

* * *

Fleet Admiral Sengoku groaned and rubbed his face tiredly.

He didn't know why he accepted this position. He already had to deal with that idiot Garp on a daily basis for the past 15 years, he didn't know why he willingly chose to afflict more brainless buffoons upon himself.

How Kong had done it, he didn't know. The bastard hadn't warned him of _this_ when he recommended him for the position. He just hoped that it would somehow get better.

As if the universe was against him, a soldier burst through the door and sloppily stood at attention, panting heavily.

"Report, Fleet Admiral!"

Sengoku cursed under his breath, resentfully eyeing his tower of incomplete paperwork. "…Proceed."

"The Red-Haired Pirates have been spotted going east! They have abruptly changed their course and are presumably travelling to Loguetown, full speed!"

Sengoku groaned again and tried to massage his head.

He hated his job.

* * *

Sage stared at the gigantic black _thing_.

Yasopp guffawed at her expression. "Sage, meet Laboon. Laboon, Sage."

The black mountain gave an almighty roar that rippled the waves that the Red Force was on, rocking it roughly back and forth.

It opened its mouth and without any resistance, Roo sailed the ship into the black cavern.

Shanks grinned maniacally as he saw Sage's blank look. "So, what do you think?"

Sage turned to him, and without inflection, said, "Uncle… you're insane."

"Dahahaha! All the best people are, Sage!"

Beckman couldn't help but smile as he watched Sage eye everything incredulously. "I told you about the Grand Line's oddness."

Sage gave him the most deadpan that she was capable of. "Benny, this is a little bit more than 'odd'."

Roo grinned. "She's got you there, Beckman."

The First-Mate smiled wryly. "Touché."

There was no light as they sailed, but soon they came upon a sunny room. There, on a lone island in the middle of the water sat a house. An old man sat in front of it, reading a newspaper.

As the Red Force sailed closer, the man's eyes flashed to them and widened threateningly.

Without a second thought, Sage scrambled up Shanks' back, holding onto him tightly.

The old man's eyes turned to her after her sudden movement and pinned her into place with their intense glare.

 _Stare._

Hesitantly, Sage whispered, "Geppetto…?"

At that, all of the Red-Haired Pirates howled with laughter. The old man's eyes flashed in response.

Sage gulped.

"Dahahahaha! I never thought of it that way! Hey, Crocus-san, come meet my niece!"

The man's eyes flashed once more before he looked back at his newspaper after uttering, "Greetings."

Sage deadpanned. What a strange man. She looked at the rambunctious Red-Haired Pirates.

No, scratch that. Everything over here was strange. She had thought that she had gotten used to them on the trip over here, but now she sees that she stands corrected.

What she gathered from Uncle Shanks, Benny and Yasopp's stories was that the Grand Line was a strange but fantastical place. And the crazy weather and large sea-monsters on the journey over here had attested to that fact.

But they never said anything about mountain-sized whales and Geppetto wannabes.

And the strangest thing was that none of the Red-Haired Pirates batted an eyelash, as if this entire thing was a common occurrence.

Sage furrowed her brows. If this was normal, then what exactly had her new crew _seen_?

From underneath her, her Uncle guffawed loudly and faced his men. "Alright, guys! You're all free to do what you like while Crocus-san takes a look at Sage!"

The men cheered and scattered, some going below deck to play cards, others content to lie on the deck for a nap, and some head off to Crocus' island.

Through all of the chaos the old man boarded the Red Force and ambled over to Shanks. He examined Sage sharply through his spectacles and rubbed his beard.

"Go to the sick bay."

Shanks nodded happily and walked over, with the old doctor on his heels. Sage turned and observed the strange old man as he followed them.

Once inside, Shanks sat her on a bed and stood next to her.

Crocus slumped into a chair and intently observed her. "How old are you, girly?"

"I'm six."

The old man grunted. "We're going to do a Physical."

When Sage turned to look at Shanks, he nodded in agreement.

Crocus examined every part of her, poking and prodding and determining her reflexes. When he finished, he leaned back and regarded Shanks.

"When did you get her?"

"Hmmmm, about three weeks ago. We were by Lunes when we set sail."

Crocus grumbled. "What have you been feeding her?"

Shanks scratched his head. "Well, we've been giving her lots of meat. She gets some fruit juices as well."

Crocus' eyes flashed. "That's it?"

Shanks smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, as far as I know of…"

The old man scowled. "You dumbass. You should have given her supplements. No wonder she's so small, she has severe malnutrition." He eyed her. "But that's not it, is it? She looks relatively healthy enough, she's just small. That isn't a regular reaction to malnutrition."

He looked straight at Shanks solemnly. "She has your abilities, doesn't she." It wasn't a question.

Shanks slumped. "Yeah. She does. That's how she came to me. She was being abused by her relatives because of her abilities and that's why she's so small."

Crocus grimly eyed her. "This isn't good. The marines have been hunting you down for your special Haki for years. If they learn that she has it…" he trailed of ominously.

Shanks' hat covered his eyes and when he spoke, his voice was cold. "I know, pops. I know. That's what I'm scared of. But they'll only get her over my dead body."

Even though Sage didn't follow half of their conversation, she understood that it was an oath.

Suddenly, a wave of fear ran through her at the thought of losing him. She stood up and hugged Shanks tightly, and he rand his calloused fingers through her long red hair.

When Shanks looked up again, Crocus met his eyes. A look of understanding and resolution passed through them.

The old man sighed. "Well, I must be getting old if a brat like you is toting a kid around."

Shanks cracked a smile. "You've always been old, Crocus-san."

The flower-man grumbled good-naturedly. "Shut up, brat."

He dug out a pouch of pills. "Here. Make her take these. These are vitamin supplements, the last batch of the ones Kureha gave me. If she finishes them and continues on a good diet then she should be ok."

As Shanks cuddled the small form of his niece, Crocus watched them. "Bring her around for checkups. Her Haki will definitely grow as she gets older and it may have physical effects on her like it did on you."

Shanks nodded. "Thanks, Crocus-san. I owe you one."

Crocus snorted. "Shut it, brat. There's no owing between nakama."

At that, Shanks grinned. "Right."

Crocus cracked a smile too. He rose up and cracked his back, grumbling all the while. "Is that it, brat? 'Cuz if it is, then get out of here. Laboon's grown again and I have to upgrade his mechanics."

Shanks followed Crocus out of the sick bay and looked up at the walls of the whale fondly. "How is he doing? Any news of them?"

Crocus grimaced. "None."

Shanks frowned as well. "I'm sure they're out here. They wouldn't just leave him here."

Crocus said nothing as he walked to the side of the Red Force and swung off of the side to land on his island.

He turned back with a small, fond smile. "Get out of here, brat. But make sure to drop by sometime to say hi to this old man."

"Dahahahaha! Will do, Crocus-san! Thanks again for all the help with Sage!"

The old man just waved vaguely in their direction before he plopped himself back onto his chair and picked up the newspaper again.

"Men! We're heading out!"

With a cheer, all of the Red-Haired pirates assembled back on deck and began preparing the Red Force to set sail.

From besides Shanks, Sage watched the whole proceedings.

She turned to her Uncle. "Well, that was fast."

The redhead laughed brightly. "That it was. A little anti-climactic for almost a month of sailing, wasn't it?"

Sage shook her head. "No. It was fun. I got to see many new things."

Shanks smiled at her. "Good for you! I'm glad you liked it!"

She smiled back at him. "So… now what?"

Shanks laughed. "What do you mean 'now what'? We're gonna keep doing what we're always doing!"

Sage looked at him. "And what's that?"

The Captain of the Red-Haired Pirates beamed at her. "We're gonna go be pirates and make the best of life!"

Sage looked at him blankly. "What does that mean?"

Shanks pouted. "Jeez, Sage, what do you think it means?"

"Um, I don't know. Steal from people and blow stuff up? That's how it went in Peter Pan…"

Shanks looked horrified. "No! That's not what pirates do!" He looked contemplative for a second. "I mean, sometimes. But not us! We don't do shit like that! We became pirates for Freedom, remember? Freedom!"

Sage looked at him questioningly. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Shanks opened his mouth as if to explain, then closed it and heaved out a sigh. "You know what? Go ask Benny. He'll tell you much better than I can."

He walked over to a corner and sat, rubbing patterns in the wood and pouting. Sage rolled her eyes and followed him. "Come on Uncle, don't be like that."

Shanks pouted even more. "I'm not like anything. Go away."

Sage crawled on his back until she was comfortably situated in her favorite position again. She hugged him tightly, content to remain silent.

The two stayed in that position as the rest of the Red-Haired Pirates milled around, preparing to set sail.

Eventually, Shanks sighed and rose. "You're really annoying, you know that. But I still like you."

Sage smiled. "I like you too."

* * *

 **Aaannnd that's a wrap! Thanks for reading, folks!**

… **I don't know why, but I feel like this chapter is somehow super awkward. No matter what I do, I just can't get rid of that feeling. Tell me what you guys think.**

 **So yeah! That's all for now folks, and thank you all so very much for reading! I'll see you all soon and I hope you all have a great day!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Yo! Welcome back! I hope that you enjoy this chapter!**

 **Onwards!**

* * *

"Ok Sage, we're going on a little trip, just you and me."

Sage looked up at Shanks, her head tilted questioningly. "A trip?"

The scarred man grinned widely. "Yup! I have something special that I wanna show you!"

Sage smiled, but quickly frowned and looked around. "But what about…"

Shanks' eyes softened. "Ah, don't worry about these guys, they have other ways of occupying themselves. It's gonna be just you and me." He mischievously adopted a faux-hurt expression. "Unless you don't want to be with me…"

Sage shot up and tackled her Uncle's tall form. "No! No, I want to go with you!"

Shanks grinned victoriously and cuddled her small form to him. "And that's what I thought."

He pulled himself out of the heap that Sage had left him in and bent down enough for her to scurry up his back.

The red-haired duo turned to Beckman. "Benny, drop us off at Loguetown."

The tall man's eyes snapped open to sternly fall on Shanks. "Captain…" He trailed off warningly.

Shanks huffed out a laugh. "I know, Benny, that's why none of you are disembarking. Just stay out of sight and sail in the area. We shouldn't be long. I just wanna show her Captain Roger's hometown and tell her about him."

At Shanks' earnest look, Beckman's resolve wavered and he let out a grunt. "Alright. But be careful. There's no doubt that news has reached Marineford that we're in the area. Loguetown's sure to be crawling with Marines, and we're not coming to bail you out this time if you get yourself stuck in a situation. Too risky."

He rubbed his face and sighed exasperatedly. "And for god's sake, be careful. You have Sage with you this time," he briefly motioned to the curious little redhead who was following the conversation with interest," and if you get into a fight, she has no way of defending herself. She hasn't learned how to fight yet, which makes her a sitting duck."

Shanks pouted. "Awww, come on Benny, it's as if you don't trust me to not get into trouble."

Beckman looked both pained and highly offended at his statement. "I don't."

Shanks reached out and roughly whacked Beckman on the back, causing the tall man to let out a gruff _ooof_. "Dahahaha! Oh, ye of little faith, nothing will happen! I mean, we're just gonna go and look around for a bit. What could possibly go wrong?"

* * *

Shanks grinned widely as Sage gaped at the large arch that proudly proclaimed _LOGUETOWN_ to all visitors. Before anyone could get a proper glimpse of them, he ducked into a nearby alley with her.

He sniggered at her awestruck face. "Come on Sage. You need to hold on tight, alright? It's gonna feel a little weird, but that's ok. Just whatever you do, don't let go or speak too loudly."

Sage complied and climbed onto his back but asked, "What do you mean?"

Before he could provide her with an answer she gasped as a cold, icy feeling washed over her body, as if she had just been dunked into a pool of cold water.

She opened her mouth to ask about it then inhaled sharply as she realized that her Uncle was now invisible. It looked like she was hanging in mid-air.

Her heart thudded loudly as closer inspection revealed that she too had become transparent.

In a low, awestruck voice, she breathed, "Uncle… what did you do?"

Though she couldn't make out the exact features on his now see-through face, she could tell that he was grinning. "Pretty cool, huh? I told you that you weren't the only one able to do strange things."

Sage gazed at his clear form for a few seconds, then wrapped her arms around him, embracing him tightly. She felt her eyes well up with emotion from the reminder that no, she wasn't alone any longer. That she wasn't a freak and that she actually had people who wanted her. That her own Uncle, one of the people who loved her, had the same abilities that she did.

Shanks' heavy hand fell on her head and ruffled her hair tenderly. "Hey, don't worry about it kiddo. You're with me now."

Mutely, she nodded, curling into him even closer.

After one last firm ruffle, Shanks carefully moved out of the alley, taking care to remain in the shadows so that his pseudo-invisibility wouldn't be unraveled by further scrutiny.

As Shanks stealthily prowled around, Sage gaped at the town. Everything was so similar and yet so different from England. There were normal clothes shops and grocery stores, but for each one of those there were gun repair shops and something for 'Log Poses'.

"Hey kiddo."

Sage snapped her gaze back to Shanks' transparent head. "Yeah?"

Shanks paused a second, as if thinking about something, then he pressed on. "Did you ever feel homesick since coming here?" Before Sage could respond, he continued. "It doesn't have to be your family or anything. Just something that you've missed since arriving here."

Sage thought about it. "Yeah… I suppose a little…"

Shanks hummed in thought. "Like what?"

Sage leaned her chin on her uncle's shoulder. "Well… a few little things, I suppose. Some things back there were nice. Like Ms. Yorkson. She helped me in the end."

"That's good. What else?"

"… Mrs. Figg was nice, too. Her cats are ok."

Shanks nodded. "So basically, you don't miss much."

Sage nodded as well. "Yeah. I don't miss much, but I wish I could have done a lot more things before coming here."

Shanks' eyebrow shot up in interest. "Oh? Like what?"

Sage wrinkled her nose. "I wish I could have tasted Ice Cream. Dudley used to eat it all the time but I've never had it. I've heard it's really good."

Shanks was silent for a few seconds, then he chuckled. "Aww, don't worry about that, Sage. You can try it over here too."

Sage looked down at him incredulously. "Really?"

"Well, sure. Don't you believe me?"

"Yeah… but I've never seen you guys eating it. It's always meat and Sake and orange juice and coconut water."

Shanks smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, that's it, huh? We should probably change that now that you're on board. You're gonna need a bit more than meat and orange juice, even if Crocus-san said that the pills should be enough to get you back on track. But yeah, there's all sorts of good food over here. You can try all of them!"

Sage smiled excitedly. "Really?"

"Yeah! Let's see, there's Ice Cream, then Pizza, then noodles and Takoyaki, oh and doughnuts and cake! There's a lot of food we can eat together!"

Sage beamed. "Yeah!"

Shanks laughed at her obvious enthusiasm. "Yup, so now you don't need to have any regrets about coming here!"

Sage just hugged him. "Uncle, I don't regret anything about coming here. I'm really glad to meet you."

Shanks' heart melted. "Daww, I'm glad that you're here too, kiddo. Remember this, even though we've only known each other for a few weeks now, you're one of my most precious people. And to me, nakama are more important than treasure is."

Sage's eyes widened. "But you're a pirate! And pirates love treasure!"

Shanks sniggered at the thought of something. "Yeah, pirates sure do love their treasure. That's how important to me you are kiddo."

Sage's eyes watered and her lip trembled. She tightened her hold on him. "You're more important than treasure, too."

Shanks' heart exploded. "Oh my god, you're just too cute!" He swung her around to his front and crushed her to his chest. "You're the cutest thing to ever come out of the eight seas!"

Sage sniffled as she giggled. "Uncle, put me back! We're gonna get caught!"

And sure enough, because of their commotion several people were beginning to glance over, regardless of their transparent state.

Shanks smiled sheepishly at her. "Oops."

He swung her back onto her usual perch and the two continued forward.

After several minutes of comfortable silence, Sage piped up. "So, where exactly are we going?"

Just as the words left her mouth, a huge platform came into view. Sage gaped at the height of it.

Shanks eyed it sadly. "We're already here."

Slowly, he let her slide off his back then took her hand and led her to a corner where they sat themselves.

They both looked at the platform in silence.

Finally, Shanks spoke. "I'm glad that you don't have anything you miss back in England, Sage. But," He looked back at the looming platform, "it wasn't like that for me. When I came here, I really missed Lily and my family. I spent many years looking for a way back. In the end, there wasn't one."

He paused, his face flashing with old grief. "I wasn't very healthy, Sage. I wanted to see Lily so badly that I tried everything. Everything." A dark look flashed through his eyes. "It got to the point where I thought, hey, if I can't find Lily when I'm alive, maybe I'll be able to see her if I'm dead instead. And I would have tried killing myself if I didn't meet Captain Roger."

He looked down at Sage, who was eyeing him with fear. He opened his arms up and without prompting she crawled into them, squeezing him tightly.

"…Why? Why would you want to kill yourself? Don't you know that no matter what, you have to live?"

Shanks let out a shaky laugh as he rubbed her small back soothingly. "Yeah, I didn't know that, kiddo. Like I said, you're a lot smarter than I was. I learnt that it would always get better. See? Now you have me. And at that time, I had the Roger Pirates."

Sage peered at him. "The Roger Pirates?"

A fond smile broke across the older redhead's face. "Yeah. The Roger Pirates. The most legendary crew to ever set sail. Led by the man who challenged it all, Gol D. Roger."

Sage eyed him in interest. "And you were with him?"

Shanks smiled. "Every step of the way, kiddo. Together, with the Roger Pirates, we paved history."

Sage sparkled. "Really?"

Shanks laughed. "Yeah, really! We sailed through the Grand Line, all the way from the start to finish. And we're the only crew that has ever done so."

"Wow!"

"Yeah, pretty amazing, right? Captain Roger was something else. He looked like just an ordinary man but he challenged monsters like Whitebeard and Shiki and Kong and lived to tell the tale. He led us through battle after battle and took the World Government head on. And all the while, he was the kindest, most caring man I ever had the pleasure of meeting."

Sage was awestruck. "Wow," she breathed out. "Could I ever meet him?"

Shanks looked at her sadly. "I wish, kiddo. I wish you could meet him. I'm sure that he would have loved you. But the thing is that he died, kiddo. Eight years ago he died."

Sage's eyes widened. "He… died? But how? Wasn't he the strongest?"

Shanks chuckled melancholically. "Yeah, he was the strongest. But at the end of our journey, he got sick. Really sick. The kind where he knew that he was going to die. So when it was clear that no doctor could cure him, he made a decision."

"A decision? What did he do?"

"He turned himself over to the Marines."

Sage gasped. "But! But Marines are bad! Why would he do that?"

Shanks' eyebrows furrowed. "Sage, you gotta understand, Marines aren't bad. There are good Marines and bad Marines, just like good pirates and bad pirates."

"What do you mean?"

Shanks sighed. "Well, look at it this way. We're pirates, aren't we?" At Sage's nod, he continued. "But would you say that we're bad?"

Sage slowly shook her head.

"Really? But why? Aren't all pirates bad? Aren't they all criminals?"

"No! You guys aren't bad. You don't hurt anyone. You all just want freedom, that's all. There's nothing wrong about that."

Shanks nodded. "That's right. But, can you say that all pirates are good? That all pirates just want freedom and that they'd never hurt anybody or that they'd never steal treasure from others?"

Sage shook her head. "No… there are some bad pirates too, like Captain Hook."

"Exactly. But what about bad pirates? They hurt other people, right? What happens to them? Who can help those people?"

"The… Marines?"

"Right. The Marines. The good Marines just want to help people who can't help themselves. But just like there are good and bad pirates, there are good and bad Marines. So you can't say that all Marines are bad and all pirates are good ones like us."

After a long pause, Sage nodded. "Ok. I get it." She looked up at him. "So why did Captain Roger go to the Marines?"

Shanks sighed and leaned back against the wall. "Well kiddo, Captain Roger knew that he was dying. He knew that he didn't have much time left, but he had so much more that he wanted to do. He had so much left to give the world. So when the time came, instead of dying in a small bed somewhere, he went to the Marines. He knew that they would make a big show out of it, and that was what he was banking on."

Sage's face wrinkled in anger and disgust. "The Marines would make a show out of his death? That's so cruel."

Shanks exhaled roughly. "Yeah, it was, kiddo. It was really cruel to make a spectacle of his death like that. But they had to. Captain Roger was the antithesis of everything the Marines stood for. He was the one man they couldn't conquer. He had to turn himself in for them to get their hands on him. It was an insult that they couldn't forgive. So they decided to make an example of his death, the execution of the 'Pirate King' to make a statement."

He gestured to the tall platform that towered imposingly above them. "That is the stand on which the Pirate King Gol D. Roger was executed on."

Sage looked at the platform, horrified. "Right there…?"

Shanks nodded grimly. "Yup. That's the one. Eight years ago, the World Government did a live broadcast of his execution. But just before he was about to be killed, from the sea of people who came to witness the legendary man's end, a single question was asked.

"The person said, 'Pirate King! What did you do with all of your treasure? It's somewhere on the Grand Line, isn't it? You have it, don't you, the greatest treasure in the world? The One Piece?'"

Shanks closed his eyes. "And at that moment, Captain Roger laughed. He laughed and he laughed, and when he finally stopped laughing, he said back to him, 'My treasure? If you want it, I'll let you have it. Go look for it! I left it all in that place!' And those were the last words that he ever spoke."

Sage silently hugged her Uncle for a few minutes while he lost himself in his memories. Finally, he opened his eyes again and looked at her. "Those words sparked an entire new era. The golden age of piracy." He laughed roughly. "The World Government thought that his execution would stop piracy, but instead it encouraged an entire new generation of pirates."

Sage giggled breathlessly. "Amazing… he was a genius. Even though he was killed by the Marines, he still won in the end!"

Shanks laughed as well. "Yeah, he really was a genius. And so, hundreds and hundreds of people set out to sea to try to find Captain Roger's treasure. That is how everything started."

Sage contemplated silently, then slowly turned her large inquisitive eyes up at him. "Uncle?"

"Hmm?"

"You said that you sailed with Captain Roger, right?"

"Yup. From beginning to end, I was with Captain Roger."

"So that means… you know what the treasure is? The One Piece?"

Shanks smirked maliciously at her. "And if I do?"

She gasped in outrage. "Uncle! Tell me! Pleasseee!"

He sniggered and hugged her squirming form closer. "Nope, no can do. I'm not supposed to tell anyone what exactly the One Piece is. If you wanna know, you're gonna have to find it yourself, kiddo."

Sage eyed him. "Uncle… why are you a pirate?"

Shanks blinked at her in surprise. "What do you mean?"

She wrinkled her nose in thought. "Well… you said that most people today are pirates because they want to know what the One Piece is. But you already know what it is, and you're still a pirate. But… Benny said that you're one of the Four Emperors, too. So you're a really strong pirate, but you don't want the One Piece. So why? Why are you a pirate and not something else like Crocus-san? He was with you guys on Captain Roger's crew, wasn't he? But he's not a pirate anymore, he's a Gepetto now. So why are you still a pirate?"

Shanks stared at her wordlessly. Then he broke out into uncontrollable sniggers. She really was a smart girl.

"Well, when you put it that way, kiddo, then it doesn't really make sense, does it? Now that I think about it, me and Buggy are the only ones still active… even Rayleigh-san has settled down with Shakky-san…" He trailed off.

"But yes, to answer your question, it was because of Captain Roger's Inherited Will."

Sage's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Inherited Will?"

Shanks nodded and took his hat off of his head, holding it almost reverently. "Yup. Inherited Will is when a person takes up another person's dream or goal and completes it for them because they couldn't do it."

Sage looked at the hat. "This is…"

Shanks nodded. "Yeah. This is the hat Captain Roger gave me when I was on his crew. I made a promise to hold onto it as I observed the next generation."

Sage carefully took the hat from him, looking at it in wonder. "This is… Captain Roger's hat…"

Shanks laughed. "Yup, it sure is."

He shifted, readjusting Sage's position on his lap. "See, Captain Roger's last words sent hundreds of people out to sea and all of them were looking for the One Piece. But remember how we talked about how there were both good and bad pirates? Captain Roger only wanted one of the good pirates to find the One Piece. And so, in order for them to find it, they have to go through us, the Red-Haired Pirates first."

Sage looked at him in awe. "So… you're like the guardian for the One Piece?"

Shanks laughed and placed a hand on his hat fondly. "Yeah, I guess I am. The guardian angel for the One Piece."

Sage leaped up. "That is so cool! Forget finding the One Piece, I wanna be a guardian angel too!"

Shanks chuckled. "Oh, you do, do you?"

Sage nodded and grinned widely. "Yeah! That's much cooler than finding the One Piece! If anyone wants to be the Pirate King, then they have to fight me first!"

She carefully took the strawhat and placed it back on his now transparent hair. "Just you watch. I'll be an even better guardian than you!"

Shanks grinned and rose quickly, pulling her squealing form up with him. "Better than me, you say? Ha! That's funny. You have a looong way to go before that happens, kiddo!"

He tickled her and she wriggled around, giggling madly, trying to escape from his clutches when he suddenly went very still.

Sage froze as well.

Shanks quickly spun her around and practically threw her onto his back before he gripped her and began stealthily jogging in the shadows away from the execution platform.

Sage frowned at his sudden change in mood. She whispered, "What happened?"

Shanks' entire body was tense and he was moving swiftly, trying to get to the edge of the island as quickly as he could. Under his breath he muttered, "Marines. Strong ones. They've just arrived on the Island and they'll be coming after us soon."

Almost as if on cue, a large black projectile flew towards them. Shanks yelped and leaped forward and the projectile missed Sage by a hair and slammed into the nearby building, utterly demolishing it. Screams of panic rang out from all directions.

 _"I fouuund youuu!"_

Both Sage and Shanks' eyes widened in terror when the large form of a bulky man appeared. He had gray hair and a scar stretching across the left side of his face, and his lips were pulled into a sadistic, bloodthirsty grin.

Shanks cursed under his breath and he abandoned all semblance of stealth as he released the transparency that cloaked him and Sage and bolted across the street.

"Shit shit _shit shit shit_!"

Sage clung on for dear life as Shanks zoomed across the street, dodging cannonballs from the maniacally laughing Marine that was tailing them.

"Come on, Red-Hair! Don't run like a coward! Fight me!"

Shanks' cheery voice called back. "Nope, not today, Garp-san! Maybe later!"

But as expected, the Marine didn't take that lying down. Soon enough, the older man had caught up to them.

He met a startled Sage's eyes curiously. "Oho? And who would this be?"

Shanks grinned. "Heya there, Garp-san, sorry, but I can't stay to talk for long. Sage, this is Garp-san, one of the most tormenting and bull-headed Marines that you'll ever meet. Garp-san, meet Sage, my gorgeous niece who will one day be even stronger than me!"

Shanks deftly ducked under Garp's blow, then sent arcing bolts of brilliant red lighting towards the Marine, who deflected it with a pure black fist.

"Niece you say? How old are you?"

Shanks drew his sword and swung it at Garp, who lifted a meaty black fist to block. The Marine looked at Sage curiously.

Sage gulped, grabbing even more tightly to Shanks' cloak. "I'm six."

The older man rumbled out a laugh as he flew towards Shanks. "Hmmm, just a bit older than Luffy, then. Speaking of Luffy…"

He turned back to Shanks, who was futilely trying to flee. "Red-Hair! I was on vacation with my cute grandson when Sengoku told me to get my ass over to Loguetown because you were here! Couldn't you come at a better time! You interrupted my vacation!"

Shanks laughed as he dodged another heavy black fist. "Dahahahaha! Sorry about that, Garp-san, didn't mean to interrupt anything. Just wanted to show Sage Captain Roger's platform before we took off."

By now the fight had led them to the edge of the island, where the Red Force was waiting for them. They stood on the ledge of a sheer drop with a rocky outface where many pirate ships were docked.

Garp's eyes narrowed. "Take off, you say? I'm sorry to inform you, Red-Hair, but today you're going to Impel Down. You're going to have to say goodbye to your little niece."

Shanks laughed good-naturedly. "Awww, don't be that way, Garp-san! Impel Down isn't quite ready for me yet! I reckon it'll be a few more years before I end up in one of its cells."

And with that, Shanks grabbed Sage's hand and pulled, causing her to fall into his waiting arms. He wrapped his strong arms tightly around her tiny frame and held her close.

He turned back one last time to Garp's vexed visage. "Well, I guess that I'll see ya around, Garp-san! Take care!"

Then he leaped off the cliff, his black cloak billowing uncontrollably around them.

Shanks gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath and his robe stiffened up and spread out, until they were able to slow down their descent from an uncontrolled fall to a controlled glide.

Unfortunately, the two redheads overshot the Red Force and splashed into the sea instead, amidst loud jeering and raucous laughter from the rest of the Crew.

Shanks and Sage both broke through the surface, gasping for air, their thick red hair plastered to their faces.

Sage bobbed up and down in the water, clinging to Shanks. "Uncle… what was that?"

Shanks nervously chuckled. "Dahahaha, you know… a quick getaway…?"

Sage stared at him. "Uncle, you jumped off of a cliff."

Shanks looked offended. "No, I most certainly did not! It was… a ledge. It wouldn't have killed us. Perfectly harmless and safe."

Sage stared at him, then shook her head and looked back to where Garp-san was still on the edge, glaring at them while shouting something unintelligible.

"Who was that?"

Shanks clucked at her disapprovingly. "Really Sage, you should pay attention when you're introduced to somebody. That was Garp-san."

Sage glared at him. "I know that. You said that he was a Marine?"

Shanks shuddered. "Yeah, he's a Marine and a helluva good one too. He's caught the best of the best, so be careful around him. It would have been a lot harder to get away if he was serious about catching me."

Sage's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

Shanks gravely looked at her. "Yup. He's one of the best."

As Sage processed that little tidbit of information, a few ropes were thrown down to them. Shanks grasped one with an arm while his other one held Sage.

Slowly, they were hauled up. Finally, when their water-logged figures were deposited on the deck, Beckman's glowering form stood above them.

"Well, Captain?"

Shanks innocently peered up at him. "Yes?"

Beckman's scowl grew. "What was that you said? Oh yes, 'what could possibly go wrong?'. Well, to answer your question, we could possibly be chased by Garp and his crew. That is what could go wrong."

And sure enough, steadily growing closer and closer was a huge Marine ship with the figurehead of a large dog with a bone in its mouth.

Shanks silently stared at the ship then turned to his glaring crew. He lifted an arm up to his head and sheepishly rubbed his hair while laughing sheepishly.

"Dahahaha, oops…?"

Beckman murderously glared at him while he directed the men to their posts. "Mark my words, this is the absolute last time I allow you to convince me to do anything. _Mark my words_."

Shanks grinned. "Awww, come on Benny, you know you love it! Come on, sing with me! Yo ho ho, it's the pirate's life for me~!"

Beckman glared at him. " _No_."

Shanks pouted then looked over to a highly amused Sage. "You see what I have to put up with?"

Sage just burst out laughing. "You mean what they have to put up with?"

Roo guffawed as he walked past them. "Touché, kid. Touché."

* * *

 **Aaaaaannnd that's a wrap, folks! Thank you so much for reading!**

 **I will see you all soon! Have a wonderful day and keep being amazing!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Yo! Hello, all my cute little readers! I hope you enjoy this unforeseen update!**

 **(And it really is unforeseen, I have a Chemistry Exam tomorrow night and I'm sweating bullets just thinking about it, so… yeah. What can I say? My Muse works best when I'm under a lot of bone-breaking pressure. Jeez, I'm so stressed out that my hands are shaking as I'm typing this and I'm asking myself 'what the** _ **hell**_ **are you doing, updating instead of studying?'…**

 **But all is well. For now.)**

 **Well, 'nuff talk! Hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

The Red-Head Pirates loved to party.

Sage had experienced enough revels for that fact to be cemented into her life.

It brought her great joy to irritate her hungover uncle and his crewmates with bright lights and loud noises the next morning.

One time, she 'accidentally' knocked over all the pots and pans in the kitchen while all of the Red-Haired pirates were scattered around, hungover.

Another time, she took the flashlight from Doctor Kailaz's Examination Kit and proceeded to shine it in the hungover pirates eyes, claiming to 'be testing their reflexes, 'cuz it looks like you all are really sick'.

Oh, and another time, she dug out an old disco ball and played it full-blast, with loud, thrumming music to accompany it. She was naturally very excited about it, but unfortunately nobody else was as enthused as she was. Which was disappointing, to be honest. It was no fun dancing to disco music when all of your companions were covering their ears and writhing around in pain, groaning at you to 'turn the damn thing off, for the love of everything holy'.

Shanks called her a sadist. Sage and everybody else on board stared at him in disbelief.

"Where the hell do you think she gets it from, Captain? You're the biggest troll on the eight seas! Nobody knows better than Buggy, that poor bastard. The way you torment him, ugh." Yasopp dramatically shuddered.

Sage looked up at him with inquisitive, curious eyes. "Who's Buggy?"

Shanks' grin was positively sharkish. "We're in East Blue anyway, right? Let's drop by dear old Buggy for a long due visit."

* * *

Buggy the Clown was content.

Well, as content as he could be without having as much treasure as he wanted.

But he digresses. He was content.

He went through a rough patch with Captain Roger's death and the disbanding of the Roger Pirates, but after the prompting from Rayleigh-san, he made his own crew.

He was never the most courageous pirate out there, no sir, so he was more than happy to stay in East Blue. He would venture to South Blue occasionally if he was feeling particularly adventurous.

And the best thing about it is that treasure didn't just need to be from the Grand Line! He could loot and pillage anywhere, and gold still holds the same value!

So Buggy was content.

But sometimes… he wondered.

He thought about how life would have been like if Captain Roger still lived and ruled the seas. He thought about Rayleigh-san and Shakky-san who made their base on the Sabaody Archipelago, content to run rip-off bars and do ship coatings.

He thought about old Crocus-san, how he was still playing with that damn-ass whale at Reverse Mountain. Hmmm, it wasn't too far off from his Island, maybe he should drop by for a visit later…

He thought of Kozuki-sama. That cheerful old Samurai was the king of the Wano Kingdom now, if his letters were correct. It was hard to imagine that weirdo, perverted samurai as the king of such a stuck-up and noble kingdom, though.

He thought about Tom-san. Ah, he was the jolliest fishman that Buggy ever had the pleasure to meet. The clown scowled. He heard that Tom-san was killed by some trash Marine recently. It seems as though his protégés are still on Water 7, making a living for themselves.

He thought about Scopper Gaban-san, how he was in the New World. Buggy hadn't talked to Gaban-san in almost two years now, but he didn't know his address. He couldn't send letters through messenger birds until he had one. Last he heard, Rayleigh-san and Gaban-san were still in touch. Maybe he could pass on a message through Rayleigh-san…

He thought of Inurashi and Nekomamushi. Buggy snorted. He bet that those two furballs were still duking it out. They never seemed to get along with each other. Captain Roger and Rayleigh-san were the only ones who could keep the peace between them.

And that Shanks-bastard. That little red-headed shit.

He was Buggy's _(reluctantly, he mentally declared_ ) best friend. The two had been inseparable for a good eight years before Captain Roger's death. Then, Shanks left and formed his own crew.

He just left Buggy. The clown-pirate still admitted that he was bitter that Shanks seemed to pick himself up and move on so quickly after Captain Roger's death. He knew that Shanks took his death as hard as he did, _but still_.

 _He left._

Granted, Shanks had asked him to join his crew, but Buggy refused without a second thought. He would fly under no other flag after Captain Roger. He would bow to no-one else as Captain.

And Shanks understood that. It was why he didn't ask again.

It was why he formed a crew of his own and took the world by storm.

Buggy snorted. He would never, ever, _ever_ admit it to anyone, but he had closely tracked Shanks' journey of becoming one of the Emperors of the New World.

And in the deepest, darkest depths of his soul, he was proud of what his best-friend ( _only because Captain Roger forced us to, it was only because of circumstance, I don't even really like the smarmy red-haired bastard)_ had accomplished.

Everything was just as how Captain Roger predicted it would be.

Buggy never really understood how the whole ' _Voice of All Things_ ' thing worked. He himself was only able to use Armament and Observation Haki because Rayleigh refused to let his head get too big after he had swallowed that cursed Devil-Fruit ( _Because of Shanks, that unrepentant little sonnova bitch),_ but Captain Roger had heard something on Raftel.

Buggy remembered that day clearly. It was the same day that Captain Roger, the always jolly Captain Roger, had solemnly called them into the dining room for a meeting.

The entire crew was drunk on happiness and accomplishment, because _they had done it_. They had achieved what no other had ever achieved before them.

They had sailed to the end of the Grand Line.

But Captain Roger hadn't shared their sentiment.

Instead of being happy, he looked resigned and resolved. He told them that he was dying and that he was going to turn himself over to the Marines.

Of course, everyone knew that the Captain was sick, but they had always assumed that it was a temporary thing. That the sickness was simply another one of Captain Roger's adversaries, and Captain Roger never backed down from any of his adversaries. He always attacked them head on and won.

But this time… he didn't win.

A measly sickness had overcome the fearsome Pirate King.

While the crew had been shocked into a stunned silence, Captain Roger told them what he had heard from the ' _Voice of All Things_ '.

That with his death, there would soon come his successor who would bring the world to its knees.

In order for his successor to rise up, though, he needed to make one last stand against the World Government. His execution should be able to make that statement.

Captain Roger then officially disbanded the Roger Pirates.

It was like an arrow to the heart.

Captain Roger said that anybody could leave, that they weren't obligated to heed his requests, but naturally, nobody left.

And so, Captain Roger delegated the roles that everybody played, and would continue to play until the next Pirate King emerged.

Crocus-san remained with Laboon and looked over everybody who passed through Reverse Mountain. He would determine who was worthy of his attention and advice and who was not.

Rayleigh-san and Shakky-san kept a close eye on Marineford, which was right next door to the Archipelago. They monitored the movements of the three Admirals.

Gaban-san was keeping watch over Raftel with a few others from the crew.

There was one of each of them stationed in the Blues to protect them and to make sure that the World Government didn't terrorize them too much.

Buggy was on East Blue. Already he had to overthrow a few islands where the Marines were tyrannizing the civilians. Granted, he may have done it with a too-heavy hand and ended up looking like the villain, but it didn't matter. He was a pirate, and this was Captain Roger's will. That was enough for him.

And then, Shanks was the Gatekeeper. He monitored the status of all the poneglyphs and made sure that no-one unworthy got a hold of all of them.

Buggy scowled in fury. Not that it would do much good, anyhow. Ohara was in ruins and the only survivor was Nico Robin. With the amount of the bounty placed on her young head, she wouldn't last long anyway.

Buggy's mind drifted back to Shanks and a wry, bitter smile crept back onto his lips. That red-headed bastard could never settle for anything simple. It was always glory and adventure for him.

Their parting hurt Buggy immensely, but he knew that it had to be done. Sure, he could have sailed with Shanks and left someone else on East Blue, but _Captain Roger_ asked him to. And he couldn't refuse.

Buggy would never again sail under someone else's flag, but that didn't mean that he never thought about the _what ifs_.

Buggy grumbled and closed his eyes. That kind of thinking was only going to get him depressed.

Sure, he and Shanks had been in correspondence ( _if by correspondence, one means merciless teasing and furious cursing)_ with each other, but for around a year now it sort of… trailed off.

And Buggy wasn't going to reinitiate it, no sir. He had his pride. If that damn red-hair wanted to talk to him, then he was going to have to start it.

But still… he wondered, how was that red-haired bastard doing anyway?

"Dawwww, Buggy, I'm doing just fine! It's sweet of you to worry about me!"

Buggy froze.

He twitched.

He twitched again.

His eyelids flew open and out of them his eyeballs sprung free of their sockets.

"SH-SH-SHANKS?!"

The aforementioned red-head grinned genially and raised a hand in greeting. "Yo!"

Buggy just gaped at him, so far in shock that his jaw literally clattered to the floor.

From over Shanks' shoulder, a smaller but equally red head popped out. "Hiya!"

Buggy took one look at the mini-Shanks and promptly started choking on his own spit.

Shanks, with an innocently worried look, reached out and roughly smacked Buggy on the back. "You doing ok there, bud?"

Buggy's torso disconnected from his legs and went flying into the wall while his still-floating head let out a rough _ooof!_

Shanks grinned apologetically. "Dahahaha, sorry Buggy! Guess that I don't know my own strength! Here, let me help you up!"

On the way to Buggy's wayward torso, Shanks managed to accidentally step on Buggy's foot, causing him to let out a yelp of pain. He lost his concentration and his head and body went tumbling to the floor.

Sage just stared at the chaos and looked to her grinning uncle. "Yasopp was right. You're a sadist."

"Dahahaha, aww Sage, don't be like that! Tell me that you don't like seeing others annoyed and angry by you! It's the best feeling in the world."

"…No comment."

"Dahahaha, you can't fool me! You're my niece through and through! Man, I can't wait to set you off on the Marines, by the time you're through with them, they'll be frothing in anger!"

At that horrifying statement, Buggy regained his wits and leapt to his feet. Rather, his body parts all began spastically floating upright again.

"SHANKS, YOU DAMN RED BASTARD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Sage stared at him, then looked to her uncle. "He's loud."

Shanks nodded sagely. "Yes. It's an incurable condition he contracted because of his big nose."

Buggy's face turned a ruddy red. "DON'T MAKE FUN OF MY NOSE, YOU BASTARD!"

Sage stared at the big red nose. "Yes, it is rather big, isn't it? It's like a big red pimple."

Buggy just stared at the diminutive little redhead, gargling in apoplectic fury.

Shanks laughed. "What? I can't even understand what you're saying, Buggy. You'll have to be clearer than that. It's like you don't know the word moderation. Either you scream louder than a birthing Sea King or nobody can understand you."

"GArrggheHAATHH!"

Buggy's disconnected hands made an aborted choking motion.

Sage tilted her head. "Does he suffer from a mental disease? I can't understand a word he's saying."

Shanks nodded. "Yes. He's regressed. Mentally, I mean. He has a pretty damn cool Devil-Fruit."

" _ISSSYURFALLTTTTAHIMLAIKDISSS_!"

"Oh, so is that what it is? I thought that he was maybe suicidal. Not many people can survive with their heads away from their necks."

"Yeah, pretty cool right? He's like a cockroach. You just can't kill him, even if you chop off his head!"

"Wow. Hey, you know Uncle Shanks likes you a lot, Cockroach-san?"

" _DUNCAHLMETHATTTT_!"

"Cockroach-san, are you alright?"

The veins in Buggy's face bulged dangerously. He turned towards Shanks menacingly.

" _Youuu_ ," he hissed. " _You procreated?_ "

Shanks goofily laughed as he brought his hand up to his hair to ruffle it. "Well, not really, you see-"

Buggy was absolutely livid. Fearlessly he faced down Shanks.

"How could _you_? How could you be so _stupid_? Did you forget what happened with Captain Roger and Rouge-san? You're an Emperor now! The World Government is out for your blood! Don't you remember how many innocent children they killed just because they had a _suspicion_ about Captain Roger's kid? You were willing to have a quick fuck despite _that_?!"

Shanks was silent up till that point, his normally expressive face shadowed by his straw hat. When he finally spoke, it came out as a growl.

"I did _not_ forget Buggy. I would never forget. Sage isn't my daughter. She's my niece. I found her barely a few months ago."

He looked up, his uncovered grey eyes seething with fury. "I would never forget what the World Government did to the Captain and Rouge-san! I'm always careful. Always. I would never risk that happening again. Ever."

Buggy was panting roughly because of the build-up of emotion. "Yeah? You would never forget it? I was right there! I was right here in East Blue when thousands of children were taken from their families! I was right here when Rouge-san forced herself to carry the kid longer! I was right there when Garp took him and she died! So you don't talk to me about remembering! Do you even know how much danger this kid is in?! It's obvious that she's related to you! They'll never leave her alone, Shanks! They'll hunt her down because she's an easy target! Even if she sails with you you can't always protect her! What if Akainu comes after her, huh? Or Kaido? Or Big Mum! Hell, even Vegapunk! She's just a kid, Shanks! You may be strong, but THERE ARE ALWAYS PEOPLE WHO ARE STRONGER!"

Sage looked frightened when she felt her uncle's ire visibly raise. The air crackled with electricity between the two ex-cabin boys of the Roger Pirates.

"Don't you think I know that, Buggy? Don't you think I know that?! I know that I'm not always gonna be able to protect her! Hell, about a week ago I was _this_ close to getting my ass nabbed by Garp-san! I wouldn't have gotten away unscathed if he didn't allow me to! I know that Garp-san won't say anything about Sage, but sooner or later there will be someone who'll snitch on her! So I know that I can't always protect her Buggy, But I don't gotta choice! She came to me! Her other relatives were abusing her! _Starving_ her, Buggy! I mean, look at her! She's six! Does she look like a six-year-old to you?"

At Buggy's stunned look, he ploughed on.

"They were starving her and working her to the bone all because she has my special Haki. They weren't gonna leave her alone, Buggy. I'm the lesser of two evils."

Buggy looked utterly terrified. He stared at the tiny red-head in horror. "She has your Haki…? Shanks, if they catch wind of this, they're never gonna let her go! Forget Akainu, Vegapunk will be out for blood! They'll do unspeakable things to her to replicate the ability so that they could use it for themselves!"

Shanks exhaled roughly. "I know, Buggy, I know. That's why I'm showing her to you."

Buggy stared at him. "What?"

Shanks eyed him somberly. "After this, I'm gonna show her to Mihawk. You two are the only ones I trust to check up on her when I gotta leave her."

Sage let out a strangled gasp. "What…? Uncle Shanks? You're gonna leave me? _You promised_!"

Shanks turned his attention to his trembling niece. "Kiddo, we're family. Nothing's ever gonna change that, I promise."

He turned back to a brooding Buggy. Sharp grey eyes met beady black. "War is coming, Buggy. I don't know when exactly, but my estimate is anywhere from two to four years. Kaido almost has all of the Poneglyphs. He's gonna come after me and it's gonna take everything to stop him."

Buggy gaped. "That close?"

Shanks nodded. "When I see war on the horizon, I'm gonna hide her away. She may be a Red-Headed Pirate," he threw a fond glance to his still too-tense niece, "but she's still a few years too young to see war."

Buggy just stared in silence. Finally, he spoke. "You're gonna hide her away in the Blues, then?"

Shanks shrugged. "Probably. I can't hide her on any of my islands. They'll inevitably all be battlefields. Don't want to put her in Whitebeard or Big Mom territory either."

Buggy grunted in agreement. That would be a _very bad_ idea.

"You can't stick her with me. I don't have enough power to protect her if someone recognizes her."

Shanks nodded. "I know. Your anonymity is your biggest asset, and with Sage, it'll eventually be ruined. Mihawk can't take her either, the World Government won't allow it. If he insists, they'll remove him from being a Warlord."

Buggy snorted. "No way. He's too valuable for them to do that."

Shanks looked solemn. "Too important to allow one of my blood to continue living? And remember, there's more practitioners of the Absolute Justice than just Akainu."

Buggy scowled. "So, what? What are you going to do then? You can't just drop her off on some random god-forsaken island. What if something like Flevance happens? Nobody left that island alive!"

Shanks growled. "Yeah, I know that I can't leave her just anywhere. That's why I'm gonna talk to Garp-san when the time comes."

Buggy's eyes bulged out of his head again. "What?! Are you _crazy_?! You're gonna ask _Garp the Hero_ to protect your pipsqueak niece?!"

Shanks nodded. "Captain Roger did. If I offer up an alliance against Kaido maybe I can convince him to hide her as well."

Buggy stopped mid-rant and tilted his head, thinking about the implications of it. "Huh. It may actually work. _If_ you can convince him, that is."

Shanks laughed softly. "Yeah, isn't that how the world works? 'If'?"

Buggy snorted condescendingly. "Don't get philosophical on me, bastard."

Shanks chuckled. "Speaking of, have you ever met him? Captain Roger's kid, I mean?"

Buggy dejectedly shook his head. "Naw, haven't stumbled across him yet. That Garp's doing a good job hiding him."

Shanks looked a little disappointed, but otherwise satisfied. "Good. A pity that we haven't met Captain Roger's legacy yet, but it's ok. The sea's in his blood. He'll show up sooner or later."

At this moment, Sage, who had been listening to their conversation silently for the most part, piped up. "Wait, hold on. After a few years I'm gonna meet Captain Roger's son?"

Shanks smiled and ruffled her hair, causing the little red-head to pout. "Yeah, that's sorta the plan, kiddo. It may change and you may stay somewhere else, but that's our best bet."

Sage peered at Shanks and Buggy with inquisitive green eyes. "So I'm gonna go and live with Garp-san? Is he nice? He won't be mean to me like the Dursleys, will he?"

Shanks' previously amicable countenance darkened in a heartbeat. "Naw, he won't be mean to ya, kiddo. Wherever you go, nobody will treat you like that ever again."

Sage sighed in relief and slumped bonelessly against her uncle's strong back. "Do I really hafta, uncle? Do you really hafta leave me?"

Shanks chuckled humorlessly. "'Fraid so, kiddo. Like I said, it's gonna be war soon. I can't have you at my side. You might get hurt."

"But… but I thought that you were the strongest."

Buggy snorted. "Listen here, pipsqueak. One of our old crewmembers, Rayleigh-san is his name, taught us that you may be strong, but there will always, _always_ be someone stronger than you out there somewhere. Bastard-Shanks may be strong, really strong even, but like I said, there's always someone stronger. And if that someone comes after you, then you're fucked."

Sage stared at him. "You know, you're actually pretty cool for a pimple-nosed guy."

Buggy's face turned as red as his nose and he snarled. "Who you callin' a pimple-nose?!"

Sage pushed aside her unease and grinned at the clown. "Pleased to meet you, Buggy. I'm Sage." After mischievously looking at her uncle, her eyes flashed with promise as they fell back on the now uneasy pirate. "I have a feeling that we're going to have a friendship as wholesome as the one you have with my uncle."

Buggy paled and his eyes flitted from Sage to Shanks repeatedly. He accusingly pointed to Shanks and dramatically wailed, "You bastard! You've corrupted her!"

Shanks gave his usual good-natured smirk, but it was tinged with a touch of evilness. "Not yet, I haven't. Not completely. But when I do, it'll be the greatest mark I leave upon the world before I go. She'll stand before the world and make it _tremble_."

Buggy just shivered in fright at the thought.

One Shanks was enough, but a mini-Shanks running around after the original?

Buggy refused to ponder the very notion.

Maybe if he ignored it long enough, it would go away.

Yes, a sound strategy. He would do just that.

You see, Buggy was a content man. And he would fight to remain that way even if he was pulled into a whirlwind of psychopathic red-heads.

* * *

 **Aaaand that's a wrap, folks! Thank you all so very much for reading all the way to the end!**

 **Ok, enough talk. I gotta go and study some last minute Chemistry before I shit my fricken pants.**

 **I'll see all of you, my cute readers, soon! I hope you have a nice day! Toodles!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Hello, all my cute little readers! Happy New Year!**

 *** _Shifts nervously_ * First of all, I'd like to sincerely take this chance to apologize for not updating for so long. School has been a pain in the ass ****(￣︿￣)**

 **But yeah! I'm back now… hopefully for a while. * _Sweats nervously thinking about the buttload of classes I signed up for next semester_ ***

 **But enough of that! I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Shanks squinted suspiciously. "Hey Yasopp."

Said blond man was busily humming and topping his glass with rum, hips swaying to the music of the party.

"Yasopp."

" _Mmmmm, she'll always love meee~!"_

"Yasopp."

" _Aaaand I'll always love herrr~!"_

"Yasopp!"

" _We make love till the break of daaawn~!"_

"Yasopp, you shitty blonde bastard, listen to me, dammit!"

The blonde sniper turned to his captain with a look of surprise. "Oh, Shanks. You say something?"

An irritated tick appeared on the redhead's brow. "Yes, you shithead. I did."

Yasopp took a swig from his mug, his eyes on Shanks. After a long moment of silence, he waved for the redhead to continue. "Well, what is it? If you have something to say, say it. Some of us have got things to do."

Another tick appeared on Shanks' forehead, but he took a deep breath and dispelled it. "Well, you're a dad, right?"

Yasopp broke into a slightly tipsy grin. "'Course I am, and of the finest young man on all the eight seas! Have I told you about the time Usopp-"

"Yes, yes, I've heard _all_ about it. _Trust me_." Shanks cut him off before he had to endure yet another session of Yasopp gushing about his son.

Oh god, those were a thing of punishment. If someone pissed Beckman off enough, he would sit them in front of Yasopp and ask the sniper to regal them with tales of his son. Yasopp would happily comply, none the wiser until the crew member was ready to rip their own hair out if it would get them out of listening to Yasopp prattle about his little brat. It was one of the harshest punishments on the Red Force. Half the crew was already ready to beat the shit out of Yasopp's little brat when they would finally meet him for making them endure this torture for years, and it looked like the pain wouldn't stop in the years to come.

"Well, you have a kid, so you know about them, right?"

Yasopp narrowed his eyes. "Yeeessss? Your point?"

Shanks turned away from him and turned to look at Sage. She was happily chatting with a few members of the crew, gnawing on a chicken drumstick.

"Well, you see… does Sage seem strange to you?"

Yasopp frowned. "Hmmm? What do you mean?"

Shanks sighed. "Well, you know… has she been acting strangely?"

Yasopp thought about it, then looked at the redhead. "No, I haven't noticed anything."

Shanks' shoulders slumped. "So it's just me then." He fell into a crouch and glumly began drawing patterns on the deck while a depressing gray cloud hung over his head.

Yasopp sweat-dropped as he watched his mighty Captain sulk. "Well, maybe it's all in your head. Here, we could find out now." He turned to the smaller redhead and called out to her. "Hey Sage! Come over for a minute! I wanna talk to you!"

Sage cheerfully skipped over and looked up at the blonde. "Hey Yasopp! What's up?"

Shanks looked up in hope.

Yasopp smiled. "Well, it wasn't really me, your uncle wanted to talk to you."

Sage smiled brilliantly bright at the blond. "That's interesting. I have nothing to say to lying, promise-breaking, family-abandoning scum like him. Kindly tell him to throw himself overboard and get eaten by Sea Kings."

She beamed cutely once more at Yasopp and skipped away to rejoin the party, leaving the two to stare at her in her wake.

The dark cloud over Shanks' head darkened and tears streamed down his face. He sobbed pitifully as he watched his niece happily chat with his crewmates.

Yasopp took a sip of his rum. "Well. That happened."

Shanks turned big, tearful eyes to his sniper. "Does she hate me?"

Yasopp nodded assuredly. "One hundred percent."

Tears began profusely streaming down his face again. "Yasooooopp, what am I going to _dooo_?"

Yasopp examined his pitiful form. "Well, for starters, figure out why she's mad at you."

Shanks sobbed pathetically. "How do I do that?"

Yasopp stared at his captain incredulously. "Are you for real? She just told you why she was mad. She thinks you lied to her and are abandoning her."

"B-But! That isn't even- Buggy didn't- I'm not fucking abandoning her! I told her that!"

Yasopp sniggered. "Well, looks like she didn't get the memo."

Shanks turned mournfully to him. "So what do I do?"

"Well, first off, you could stop moping and go up and talk to her. Make it clear that what she's thinking is wrong."

Shanks hesitated for a moment, then bravely gathered himself up. "You're right! I just have to go talk to her! Tell her she's wrong and I'm not abandoning her!"

He put his game face on and bravely strode to his tiny niece's form. Yasopp watched engrossed while sipping his rum.

Shanks came up behind his niece and grinned widely. "Hey kiddo! Wanna talk to me for a sec?"

Sage smiled up at him. "Fuck you. Walk away, little bitch."

Shanks' confidence promptly fled and he pitifully slinked back to Yasopp's side. The blond compassionately patted his back. "There, there. That wasn't so bad."

"She called me a little bitch! Who's teaching her these kinds of things?!"

"… Ok, maybe it was kinda bad. But cheer up, Captain! At least she's talking to you, right? I'm sure she'll come around soon. I mean, she's gotta break eventually!"

* * *

As it turned out, Sage did not break.

In fact, her already cold shoulder to Shanks got even colder.

Where she usually stayed with Shanks in the night, she instead chose to go to Roo. Then the next night, to Beckman. And the night after that, with Yasopp.

That fact alone was enough to bring Shanks to tears once again.

But it didn't end there.

While she never once stopped smiling angelically at Shanks, whenever she deemed to address him (which was rare enough, mind you) it was always punctuated with caustic curses.

The crew found it adorable and hilarious.

Shanks didn't.

And finally, many tiny _accidents_ would happen when Shanks was nearby.

Such as a small, incidental oil spill right outside of Shanks' quarters. Which caused him to slip overboard right after he woke up with a raging hangover.

Or when a snapping turtle suddenly decided to take up residence in his underwear drawer.

Or, during one particular dinner, when the only thing that stopped Shanks' hand from getting impaled by a shiny steel fork was his top-class Observation Haki.

The Red-Haired Pirates stared at the vibrating silverware embedded deeply in the table and blankly looked up to Sage. Her innocent smile hadn't left her face once.

"Oops. It slipped. Sorry!" She cutely bopped her head in punishment.

Everyone looked back to the fork, which was still vibrating from the force.

The Red-Haired Pirates, one of the strongest crews on the Grand Line, knew fear that day.

* * *

Sage watched gleefully as Shanks suspiciously scuttled around her, his face filled with fear.

Beckman, who she was perched next to, watched his paranoid Captain and sighed in good humor.

"Is this really necessary, kid?"

She turned to him, green eyes wide. "Is what necessary?"

Beckman puffed his cigarette and gestured to Shanks. "That. The… I dunno, psychological torture you're putting 'im through. Is that necessary? Haven't you forgiven 'im yet?"

Sage stared at him, then leaned in conspiratorially, a wicked smile on her face. "Of course I have. I forgave him ages ago. I'm not mad 'cuz I know it's safest for me."

Beckman stared at her. "Then… why?"

She blinked up at him. "I need to make a statement."

"… I beg your pardon?"

She sat up and gestured to the ship. "You see Benny, I'm a little girl. I'm a little girl on a big ship filled with big men. They all need to know that I'm not someone they can walk over."

Her expression darkened for a moment and Beckman knew what she was thinking about. Those bastards who called themselves her relatives once upon a time. He mentally cursed. Even after all the months she had spent on the Red Force, she was still affected by them. Logically knew that scars like hers didn't fade easily, but damn if it didn't hurt when he saw that she still cowered at the thought of them.

"So, I need to show them. I may be small, but they shouldn't cross me if they know what's good for them."

Beckman was almost afraid to ask. "… And why is that?"

She smiled. It wasn't a pretty thing. "If they do, I'll break them. And they won't be able to prove it's me. I'll take them apart piece by piece until they think they're crazy, and I'll be watching the entire time."

Beckman stared at her, his cigarette hanging limply from his mouth. "You're a terrifying little shit, you know that?"

Her smile grew softer and she shrugged.

"After staying with Uncle for so long, I've seen that you don't need just muscles to come out on top. 'Course, Uncle is the strongest, no matter what Buggy says, but he doesn't need to hit someone to take them down. He could use his words or his behavior and it would do the same thing. Sure, he doesn't do it much, he's too nice to do it to any ol' person, but I know he's capable of it. And I wanna show him that I could do it too before I hafta leave."

She stared at Beckman, expression serious. "I know that Uncle doesn't wanna leave me either. But I know that he's gonna have to if you're gonna fight against Kaidoo and win. So I wanna show him, that even if can't punch and hit someone till I beat them yet, I'll still be ok."

Beckman eyed her, then shook his head. Man, both Shanks and Sage were too much alike, it was almost creepy.

"Kid, first of all, it's Kaido, not Kaidoo. And second, Shanks doesn't care about that. He's gonna leave you somewhere real safe where you won't get hurt. You don't need to do this."

Sage stared resolutely at him. "I want to. I've seen him, ok? I know how worried he gets. I'm sure that this will make it a bit better, even if it's only a bit."

Beckman just sighed. "Whatever you want, kid. But just take it easy, alright? The Captain looks like he's gonna have a nervous breakdown if this goes on any longer."

Sage looked back at him, a fond smile on her face. "He does, doesn't he?"

Beckman stared at her. This demon child.

She turned back to him. "So, who's Kaido?"

The First Mate blew out a plume of smoke and relaxed on the deck. Sage laid down next to him, looking up at him curiously.

"Well, before I can tell you that, you need to know about the three main powers on the sea."

"Main powers?"

"Uh-huh. Three of 'em. The Three Admirals, the Seven Warlords, or the Shichibukai, and the Yonko, or the Four Emperors."

Sage looked at the sky in thought. "Yonko? Isn't that what Uncle is?"

Beckman inhaled, then softly blew out smoke. "Yup. He's one of the Yonko. The Yonko are powerful pirates who have established territory in the New World. Sure, it's possible to overthrow one, but you'd damn near need an army to do so."

Sage blinked up at him in awe. "Uncle is that strong?"

"Sure. But remember, there's three other Yonko and all the other big players out there, so he's not quite on top of the food chain. But he's up there."

She looked contemplative at that. "So there's three others who're as strong as Uncle?"

"Kid, I just told you, the Yonko aren't the only rulers of the sea. There's still the Warlords and Admirals to look out for. But yeah. Three others. Whitebeard, Big Mum and Kaido."

"Tell me about them."

Another puff of smoke. "Well, Whitebeard's said to be the strongest man alive. He's gone toe to toe with Roger and lived to tell the tale decades later. He's the friendliest of the other Yonko. He values his crewmates more than anything, even the One Piece. He sees them as family."

Sage stared at him. "Wow," She whispered. "He seems pretty awesome. I'd like to meet him one day."

"Eh, he's alright. Shanks goes drinking with him sometimes, but we aren't allies or anything. Damn, that'd be the day. The Gorosei would shit a brick if they heard we formed an alliance." He chuckled.

"The Gorosei?"

Beckman waved her question off. "I'll get to it later, kid. But yeah. Whitebeard's alright. Big Mum's ok, too, but she's nowhere near as chill as Whitebeard. We don't have any beef with her either, but she's wound up tighter than a Celestial Dragon's corset."

"Celestial Dragon?"

"Oh those fuckers, I'll get to them later as well. But away from the tangent. Big Mum… mostly what she cares about is food. She's a complete glutton. Sage, if you wanna get on her good side or wanna talk to her, take sweets. Lots and lots of sweets. You can't go wrong."

Sage nodded. "Sweets for Big Mum. Got it. What else?"

"Well, she's got dozens of kids. Dozens. Last I heard, it was somewhere in the fifties."

"… What."

"Yeah, I know. Don't question it. Weird shit happens on the Grand Line. The best way to deal with it all is to just roll with it. People who don't adapt to the strangeness of the Grand Line don't last long. You'll see all manner of things here, from crazy weather to monsters to Devil Fruits."

Sage nodded, taking in the advice. "But what are Devil Fruits?"

Beckman looked at her. "Hmmm, I'll get to those in a second. But let's finish of the Yonko first. Whitebeard, Big Mum and Kaido. Kaido. They say he's unkillable."

"No way."

"Yup. They've done everything to kill him. Guns, spears, guillotine, you name it. But everything breaks as soon as it comes into contact with him."

"… And you're gonna fight him…?"

"Well… yeah."

"…"

"Don't worry, kid, we'll be alright. Shanks is a Yonko too, remember?"

"… Are you sure?"

"Positive. Besides, we're not fighting to kill, just to get those damn Poneglyphs away from him. Piece of cake."

"I don't know what a poneglyph is, but if you say so."

Beckman sighed, put out his cigarette, and lit another one. "Yeah, there's a lot I gotta teach you, isn't there? But we'll be fine, brat. Don't worry about us. But going back to Devil Fruits. This will make talking about the Admirals and the Shichibukai easier. So, Devil Fruits are just that: fruits they say were put on earth by the very Devil himself."

"What's so special about them?"

"If a person eats them, they get powers."

"… No way."

"Each fruit has a specific power that comes with it. There's three classes of fruits. Logia, Paramecia and Zoan. Logias alter your very body into a different material, like metal or lava. Zoans, they allow you to turn into an animal. And Paramecias. They're the broadest category of all. It could be anything, from body manipulation to controlling external things, even space itself. Devil fruits are very, _very_ powerful in the right hands."

Sage looked inquisitively at him. "If they're so powerful, why doesn't everybody have one?"

"Well, because they're pretty rare, first of all. And second, you don't know what power you're gonna get until you eat the fruit. Sure, there's a book on Devil Fruits, but that's more of a rough outline than an actual guide. So a person could end up with a shitty power that they could never get rid of for the rest of their life. Like, I dunno, I'm pretty sure there could be a power that could make you smell like shit or something. I guess it could be useful, but really, would you want a power like that?"

"… Not really, no."

Beckman nodded. "Exactly. It's hit or miss with Devil Fruits. You could end up with an inherently useful power, or you could get the shaft, and there's no certain way to know."

Sage grimaced. "… Oh. They don't sound so good anymore."

"Yeah. But that isn't the main reason people don't eat Devil Fruits."

"There's more reasons?"

"Yup. So I've told you about the world we live in Sage. Now you tell me. What's the geography of this world?"

Sage blinked at him. "Ummm, well, there's the Grand Line and the Red Line, and the Calm Belts. Then there are the four Blues. Then there's all the islands."

"Exactly. Ninety percent of our world is water, Sage. That's the weakness of Devil Fruits. If a person eats a Devil Fruit, they can't swim. Once they touch the sea, they freeze up and become anchors. If a Devil Fruit user falls into the sea, it's a slow, watery death for them."

Sage stared at him. "But… most of the world is the sea."

Beckman took a pull from his cigarette. "Correct."

"And most of the people who want Devil Fruits are Pirates or Marines.

"Again, correct."

"… Pirates and Marines sail the seas. That's what they do."

"That's true."

Sage blinked. "I don't get it. So why…?"

Beckman chuckled. "Well, for the reason you were excited in the first place. Some of the powers that Devil Fruits can offer… Think of it like this. For every fruit that could be shitty, there could be one that offers you power beyond your wildest imagination. With the right fruit, you could become a dinosaur, you could turn into fire, _you could control time itself."_ He shrugged. "It's a matter of chance and good luck."

Sage contemplated his words in silence. "I see why people would eat them. But I dunno if I would."

Beckman nodded. "That's fine. There's a lotta people who wouldn't wanna eat a Devil Fruit if it came their way. There's other ways to get stronger."

Sage looked up at him with big, worried eyes. "Would I be able to get as strong as Uncle without a Devil Fruit?"

Beckman looked at her for a moment, then chuckled and ruffled her hair, which caused a pout to form on Sage's lips. "You'll be fine, kid. With the Captain's special Haki, you'll be a powerhouse yourself when you get older."

Sage considered his words then nodded in contentment. "Good. I won't be able to be a good guardian angel if I don't get strong."

Beckman blinked. "Guardian angel?"

Sage beamed. "Yeah! Like Uncle Shanks! He's the guardian angel to the One Piece! He won't let anyone except a really good pirate get the One Piece!"

Beckman just shook his head. "That bastard. Still in his twenties and he's already passing down his Inherited Will to his niece. Can't say he doesn't work fast."

Sage nudged him. "Hey Benny, has anyone on the crew eaten a Devil Fruit?"

Beckman shrugged. "Sure. There's a few guys."

Sage's eyes sparkled. "Really? Tell me!"

Beckman smirked. "Why don't you find out by yourself?"

Sage gaped at him. "What?"

"Find out by yourself. Ask around and find out who's eaten one and what their powers are."

Sage pouted. "But Benny~!"

Beckman shook his head. "No, do it yourself, squirt. I'm not gonna tell ya."

Sage huffed. "Fine then. How do you get Devil Fruits?"

"Well, there's a few ways."

The tiny redhead grumbled. "C'mon Benny, stop beating around the bush. Tell me."

Beckman eyed her, then rose to his feet and stretched. "Follow me." He turned and strode away.

Sage scrambled to her feet and trotted after him, looking up at him quizzically. "Where are we going?"

Beckman scoffed at her. "Follow me and you'll see."

Sage couldn't really fault that logic, but she didn't have to like it. She pulled a face as he led her to the food pantry on the ship.

He opened the door and gestured for her to go in. "Ladies first."

Sage glared at him. "Oh, so now you're a gentleman," She muttered.

Beckman just shrugged. "I can be a gentleman when the situation calls for it."

He followed her in and led her to a particular corner of the room. As they walked, Sage observed all the food they had stored away. As expected, there were slabs and slabs of meat, every kind imaginable. Then there were the barrels of alcohol. Too many to discern with just a glance. Finally, as they approached the back of the room, she saw something resembling fruits and vegetables. It was a pitifully small percentage in comparison to the meat, though.

Beckman walked over to a secluded crate in the corner. He gestured to it. "Take a look."

Sage rose to her toes and peeked in. Inside was every kind of fruit she could name. Bananas, grapes, cherries, guavas, watermelons, gooseberries, _everything_. She didn't even know the names of some of them. It was just a big crate full of fruit.

She looked up at Beckman, slightly offended. "Ok. So you had all this fruit here all this time and you couldn't give me any? Really, Benny? Remember how mad Crocus-san was because I wasn't eating enough fruit? Couldn't that have been avoided?"

Beckman shook his head. "Yes, while you did need more fruit, we couldn't give you any of this. You see kid, this is what we call a Devil Fruit Set. We need every single kind just in case."

Sage looked quizzically up at him. "Huh?"

Beckman flicked his cigarette to get the ashes off. "See, how Devil Fruits work is if a user dies, then the Fruit's powers are transferred to its nearest fruit it could find. But each a power has a specific fruit it's tied to. Let's say a particular Devil Fruit has the power to allow its user to jump however far they want. So a person finds the fruit, eats it, then spends their lifetime jumping. Then, they get killed. If the fruit they initially ate was a strawberry, the powers will transfer to the nearest strawberry and transform it into another Devil Fruit for someone to eat."

He gestured to the crate filled with fruits. "That's where this comes in. You never know when a Devil Fruit is looking for a fruit to go into. Sometimes when we check the crate, we have a new a new one."

The First Mate shifted and leaned against the wall. "That's one way to get Fruits. The other way is simply luck. Sometimes after a battle, when we loot the enemy, we'll find one. Or sometimes, even mundane fruit-sellers on islands will end up with one and would want to get rid of it. It's not like most civilians like Devil Fruits, anyhow."

Sage continued to study the fruits. "But Benny… how does someone know if they could eat a Fruit? Uncle Shanks told me that loot is shared equally between all crew members. But how can everyone share a Devil Fruit? Can more than one person eat a fruit?"

Beckman looked approvingly down at her. "Good question, kid. To answer your question, no. Only one person could have a Fruit's powers. If he takes even one bite out of it, the powers are his. When it comes to Devil Fruit etiquette, it's 'finder's keepers'. But if a fruit ends up in the crate, then it's up to Shanks to decide what to do with it. Captain's decision. He could give it to whoever he wants, or he could even sell it. Devil Fruits fetch a pretty penny in the Underground."

Sage nodded, and after a long pause, she smiled at Beckman. "I'm glad."

Beckman tilted his head. "What for?"

Sage hopped onto a nearby crate and swung her legs, still smiling. "Well, it seems like there are a lot of people with Devil Fruit powers. And from what you said, some of them are pretty weird. I'm glad that I'm not the only Freak anymore. I know that Uncle Shanks is like me, but it's nice to know that there are other odd people out there."

Beckman scowled. "You don't need to worry about that, kid. Just forget what your relatives said. You're no freak, and neither is Shanks. There's no Freaks in our world. There's only strength and weakness. Use what you have to your advantage. That's how you're gonna survive here."

Sage continued to smile. "Thanks, Benny. You're a good friend."

Beckman huffed. "Don't worry about it, brat. I already told you, right? We're Nakama. We don't thank each other for this kind of shit. It's expected that we'd do this for each other."

She hopped off the crate and hugged his legs. "Yeah, but still. You're the best. You're my favorite Red-Headed Pirate."

Beckman heard a choked sniffle from the doorway and turned to see a forlorn Shanks looking at his niece pitifully. It seemed that he had been watching them for a bit. "Kiddo, what about me?"

Sage turned to him with a kind smile. "Get out of my sight, you creten."

With a dramatic sob, Shanks bounded away, presumably to whine to Yasopp about how mean Sage was being to him.

Beckman looked down at her to see Sage looking at the doorway with a satisfied look. "I thought you said that you were gonna take it easy on him."

Sage looked up at him in surprise. "I did."

Beckman shook his head as he made his way out of the pantry. "You know, you're going to Hell for what you're putting that poor man through."

Sage gave him a deadpan look. "I already know I'm damned. I'm a pirate, after all. If I'm gonna go to Hell anyway, I'm gonna make sure I enjoy the journey."

Beckman smiled. She was Shanks' niece, alright.

* * *

 **Aaaannnnddd that's a wrap! Thank you so, so very much for reading until the end!**

 **Can I get three cheers for Depressed!Shanks, Troll!Sage and Professor Beckman?** **＼(＾▽＾)／**

 **I hope that you have a fantabulous 2018! Go out and kick some ass, everyone! That's all for now, folks! Until next time! Have an awesomesauce day!**


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